284 BIRDS OF DUlVIFRIESSfflRE 
maben. In 1895 Mr. R. Service wrote to Mr. J. A. 
Harvie-Brown : " I cannot say it has actually bred in Dum- 
friesshire, but there can be httle doubt that it has done 
so. This species is one of those that arrive and depart 
from here in a N.N.E. or E. direction." Mr. Service 
speaking in 1900 of its distribution in the Solway area, 
says : " Always well-known as a winter visitant, the Tufted 
Duck was first discovered breeding within our area by 
myself in 1887. Since then it has spread amazingly, and 
there is scarcely a loch in the three counties " (i.e., Wigtown- 
shire, Kirkcudbrightshire, and Dumfriesshire) " but has a 
pair of them upon its surface in summer."* 
Mr. J. Davidson writes me : In 1898, one pair of Tufted 
Ducks bred on Dalswinton Loch. These probably breed 
commonly now, but up till then had not been known to 
do so." I am informed by Mr. T. Ranken that they now 
nest in this locaUty every year, and that there were four or 
five pairs on the Loch in April, 1908. It is getting to be a 
very common duck inland," he says, " but most people 
still call it the Goldeneye. There are three pairs nesting 
here this year " (1909). Dr. J. W. Martin says in 1901 that 
they are fairly often seen in Glencairn, and that " one year 
a pair remained on the Cairn for some time in May."t 
I am told by Mr. W. Coupland that a pair nested on the rail- 
way embankment half a mile south of Holywood Station in 
1905, and in 1906 ; the following year this species bred at 
Auchencrieff Loch, and in 1908 it was again observed in 
that neighbourhood. Tufted Duck have been seen annually 
in spring on Newtonairds Loch (Holywood), practically ever 
since its reconstruction in 1905 ; but no nest has yet been 
discovered. Mr. P. Jeffreys writes me that a pair nested 
at Friar's Carse Loch (Dunscore) in 1908, and the same 
year a couple were noticed at Morton Loch in May, and I 
saw a pair on Loch Urr towards the middle of that 
month. On the lochs at Lochmaben this species continues 
* Trans. D. and G. Nat. Hist. Soc, November 16th, 1900. 
t Op. cit., December 13th, 1901. 
