254 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
in 1908 one was shot on December 31st at Powfoot (Cummer- 
trees), by Mr. J. Dakymple. A party of three was observed 
in the estuary of the Nith, opposite Carsethorn, at various 
times during the winter of 1908-1909. A Brent Goose was 
shot as it was feeding alone in a meadow by the side of 
Moffat Water, near Croftheads (Moffat), on December 21st, 
1909, by Mr. WiUiamson. Croftheads being twenty-five 
miles inland, is a remarkable locality at which to meet with 
this species. I have seen the bird, which is a male of the 
dark-breasted form. 
H. A. Macpherson has stated that both the dark (B. 
hrenta) and Hght-breasted (the so-called B. glaucogaster of 
Brehm) forms of this species occur on the Cumberland es- 
tuaries,* and both forms also occur on our coast. The Brent 
Goose probably breeds as far north as land is known, the 
dark-breasted form "being the principal inhabitant of 
Novaya Zemlya, Spitsbergen, Kolguev, etc., though not 
exclusively, ... the light-breasted form takmg its 
place from Greenland to the Parry Islands. In winter it 
migrates south, and occurs along the coasts of Northern and 
Western Europe."! 
[Four Canada Geese (Bernicla canadensis, Gray) are 
said to have been seen on the shore near Glencaple towards 
the end of June, 1909{ ; but, even if they were correctly 
identified, there can be no doubt that they were but 
" escapes ; the species having been domesticated m Great 
Britain for more than two centuries.] 
[The Egyptian Goose (Chenalopex cegyptiaca (Linnaeus) ) 
seen, as Major Critchley informs me, on the shores of the 
Solway between Torduff Point and the mouth of the Kirtle, 
for several months in 1907, was undoubtedly an " escape 
from some collection of ornamental wild-fowl.] 
* Fauna of Lakeland, 1902, p. 245. 
t Lloyd's Natural History, 1896, Vol. II., p. 241. 
X Dumfries Courier and Herald, July 23rd, 1909. 
