248 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
further information concerning these fifteen birds, and 
whether they were Snow-Geese or not will never be known. 
A man named John Hepburn told Mr. R. Service of a bird 
found in the autumn of 1884 in Mr. Beattie's stake-nets at 
Newbie (Annan). It was " a large white goose with bright 
red bill and black wings. Mr. Beattie did not know it, nor 
any of the other men ; after being kept a day or two it was 
' fired into the tide.' "* Concernmg this record the late 
H A Macpherson wrote in 1888 to Mr. R. Service : I 
intend to take an early opportunity of visiting Anmn 
to inquire about the Snow-Goose. G. Dawson of Carlisle 
informs me that he heard a similar account of a white goose 
to yours at second-hand." The result of these inquiries 
is given by H. A. Macpherson in his Vertebrate Fauna of 
Lakeland as foUows : " It was on the 22nd of August 
ri884] that a single Snow Goose made its appearance 
on the shores of the Enghsh Solway, near AUonby. Start- 
ing for the coast by an early train, my companion and 1 
reached the beach about 9 a.m., the morning being fine and 
calm with a haze at sea. My astonishment may be imagined, 
when a Snow Goose came flymg along the edge of the water 
coming out of the west. It flew so leisurely that we felt 
sure it must soon aUght to rest, so, instead of trying a long 
shot at it with small shot, which was all we had, I contented 
myself with pointing out to WiUiam Railton, who accom- 
panied me, the salient points in the Goose, which I liaf of 
course no difficulty in recognising. The bird ne^^r flighted ; 
all inquiries on the Scottish and English sides of the firth 
failed to elicit any detailed information. There can be no 
doubt that it flew up the whole length of the Solway, and 
was last seen by a punt gunner making for the Esk. At a 
later date a Scotch fisherman supplied Mr. R. Service with 
a description of such a bird, which he said that he had found 
washed up dead. His employer, to whom he professed 
to have shown the bird, disowned any such proceedmg. 
I have no doubt that he obtained his description of it from 
* R. Service, MS. Diary, May 24th, 1888. 
