252 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
immense flocks seen during the two previous winters.* 
They were very numerous during the winters of 1886- 
1887, 1887-1888, and 1888-1889, not so plentiful in 1896- 
1897, but were particularly abundant for a few days 
towards the end of November, 1899.t Since that date the 
Barnacle-Goose has not been so markedly the dominant 
species as was formerly the case, and the " grey " geese 
are nowadays very often more numerous on our coast. Mr. 
R. Service writes to me as follows concerning the decrease of 
this species : " It would appear that owing to the culmina- 
tion (in one direction) of the changes always going on and 
around the Firth, wide stretches of feeding-grounds, once 
covered exclusively with the soft green grass beloved by 
the Barnacles, are now either covered with a coarser growth, 
or are devoid of grass altogether, thus rendering such spots 
no longer attractive to the species." 
Formerly it was a common practice for the fishermen 
in winter to set up nets, so as to intercept the shore- 
birds as they flew along the edge of the tide. This practice 
of late years seems mercifuUy to have faUen into desuetude, 
and numerous small birds, worthless in any market, are thus 
spared. H. A. Macpherson writes : " Irving Murray, an 
aged wild-fowler, assured me that Barnacle Geese are 
occasionally entangled in the flight-nets which are fixed at 
the mouth of the Nith in Dumfriesshire to catch fowl of 
every kind,"t and Mr. R. Service records a specimen received 
from Murray's bird-nets at Priestside on November 28th, 
1888.§ . . ^ 
Thanks to the innate wariness of this species, and to tne 
difficulties of approach on such a coast as ours, the Barnacle- 
Goose visits our shores with comparative safety. The 
following curious entry occurs in Mr. R. Service's M.S. 
Diary for July, 1887 : " John Kennedy, of Priestside, teUs 
* Trans. D. and G. Nat. Hist. Soc, February 3rd, 1882. 
t Kirkcudbright Advertiser, December 11th, 1899. 
+ Hist, of Fowling, 1897, p. 221. 
§ R. Service, MS. Diary, November 28th, 1888. 
