BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
In the severe winter of 1878-1879 this species suffered 
greatly, and became very tame on our shores. Mr. Tom 
Crosbie tells me that during this hard weather he saw 
Pochards at Dabton Loch (Morton) and at Kirkbog (Close- 
burn). Mr. R. Armstrong writes me that he has seen them 
on Morton Mains Loch, and a male in my collection was 
obtained on the Far Loch near Capenoch in the 'eighties. 
The Pochard arrives here in October, and departs in 
March or April ; and though it is sometimes seen so late 
as May, it is not known to nest with us. In a letter to Mr. 
J. H. Gurney dated July 27th, 1891, H. A. Macpherson 
says : "I found the Pochard in Dumfriesshire lately, but 
only a single male, so whether breeding I do not know." 
Sir Richard Graham tells me he commenced to breed 
Pochard at Netherby (Cumberland) in 1908, so that the 
status of this species in our county may be shortly expected 
to change, should Sir Richard's experiment prove successful. 
The Pochard breeds very locally throughout Great Britain, 
and in parts of temperate Europe and Asia ; in winter it 
migrates southwards to the Mediterranean, northern Africa, 
and parts of India, China and Japan, and it is at this season 
that the bird is a visitor, but irregular both as regards 
numbers and locahties, to the British Isles. 
THE TUFTED DUCK. Fuligula cristata (Leach). 
Local names— Tufted Pochard ; Golden-eyed Dttck. 
A fairly common resident, to whose numbers an accession occurs in winter. 
Sir WiUiam Jardine, writing in 1843, states : " The tufted 
duck is only a winter visitant to this country, ... but not 
nearly in equal numbers with the scaup. On the Solway we 
have observed it in a much less proportion, and only in small 
parties together. Its describers consider it more lacustrme 
