BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
female] very beautiful birds (you will see the skins 
at Fenton's, George Street) ; killed them both with my 
little rifle." These three birds may be the three specimens 
referred to in the Catalogue of the Birds contained in the 
collection of Sir William Jardine, as shot near Jardine Hall,* 
and one of these passed into the possession of the Edinburgh 
Museum in 1876. 
Mr. Hugh Mackay tells me that when in Dumfries (1893- 
1895) he received a few specimens of this bird for preserva- 
tion ; but there is a lack of information regarding the 
comparative numbers of this species, and it is well to note 
that the Solway fishermen and gunners call any goose " a 
White-fronted Goose " that has white at the base of the bill. 
This species nests from Nova Zembla eastwards across 
Arctic Russia as far as the Taimyr district and migrates 
south in autumn, at which season its distribution in Great 
Britain is decidedly local. 
[THE LESSER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 
Anser erythropus (Linnaeus). 
On January 14th, 1894, Mr. Robert McCall came across a 
party of seven or eight birds, which are beheved to have been 
of this species, on the Nith Estuary opposite Carsethorn 
(Kirkcudbright). Being unable to get a satisfactory shot 
at them with his punt-gun, he killed two with his 
shoulder-gun. One was too badly shot to be preserved, 
but the other he gave to Mr. R. Service, who writes to me 
concerning it as follows :— " It was a very small bird, the 
smallest grey goose I ever had locaUy. It was nearly black 
on the under parts, the colour being dispersed in big patches, 
and there was a broad basal band of white round the bill. 
To my extreme regret this specimen was torn to pieces and 
* Cat. Birds in Coll. Sir W. J., p. 174 (7102), a, a, a. 
B 2 
