BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 279 
[THE GARGANEY. Querquedula circia (Linnseus). 
A male of this species is said to have been shot by the 
gamekeeper at Kirkmichael House on December 1st, 1878.* 
I have not been able to trace this specimen, and am told 
that it was cooked and eaten ! Mr. R. Service notes in his 
diary that WiUiam Hastings told him that in the course of 
his business (1860-1885) he had seen several Garganeys that 
had been shot in the Lochar Moss.f 
This being all the evidence that I have as regards this 
species in Dumfriesshire, I do not feel justified in including 
it otherwise than in " square brackets." William Hastings 
was an experienced bird-stuffer, but his statement is too 
vague to be acknowledged as fact ; and the date of the 
alleged occurrence at Kirkmichael is so extraordinary as to 
lead me to suspect an error in identification. 
Sir Richard Graham writes me from Netherby (Cumber- 
land) that in 1908 he commenced to breed Garganey there, 
so that, if successful, the effect of this experiment may be 
felt in our county. 
The Garganey is a very local early spring-visitor to the 
east coast of England, where it breeds sparingly. Through- 
out the central and eastern portions of Europe and parts of 
Asia it is found nesting in summer ; and on its winter- 
migration it extends to south Europe, northern and eastern 
Africa, and is very plentiful in India.] 
THE WIGEON. Mareca penelope (Linnseus). 
A common autumn and winter>vlsitant. 
Sir WilHam Jardine, writing of the birds of the parish 
of Applegarth and Sibbaldbie in 1832, says that the Wigeon 
* Proc. Nat. Hist. Soc. Glasg., 1879, Vol. IV., p. 182. 
t R. Service, MS. Diary, March 13th, 1886. 
