BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
of some stream ; but we have not observed it, during winter, 
to frequent fresh waters, either in the vicinity or at a 
distance from the shore. It is a shy and wary bird, assem- 
bhng in flocks and feeding together ; at the same time, 
with a stormy wind, we have sometimes openly got within 
shot, while feeding in the mouths of the muddy creeks, with 
which the shores of the Solway Firth are in many parts 
intersected." * In the Catalogue of the Birds contained in 
the collection of Sir William Jardine is recorded a specimen 
from the Solway. Thomas Maxwell, of AUanton Mill, told 
Dr. Grierson in 1862, that a female Scaup was once obtained 
on the River Nith near Barndennoch (Keir ) . ' ' It was given to 
the late Mr. Johnston, bookseller in Dumfries, and was the 
only specimen ever known in the district." t This locality 
is some fourteen miles from the sea, and as has been stated, 
this species is but seldom found inland.^ The Scaup is 
recorded as "an occasional winter-visitant" to the Cairn,{ 
but I suspect an error in identification here. Miss Dorothea 
M. A. Bate writes me that a young bird was shot by Major 
H. R. Bate on Kirtle Bridge curling-pond on December 
22nd, 1905. This pond is about six miles inland, and the 
specimen obtained was one of a small party. 
During the winter of 1879-1880 Scaup-Duck were un- 
usually numerous on the Solway Firth. A flock of many 
thousands was to be seen shifting about with the ebb and 
flow of the tide in search of food. So poor did they become 
in condition that the local dealers would not take them at 
any price. Mr. Wilson H. Armistead, who has spent many 
years in ornithological observations on the Kirkcudbright- 
shire coast says : " Once I came across a flock in the channel 
between Barnhourie Bank and the Mersehead Sands, and 
stepped out the distance from end to end of the flock in a 
parallel hne along the shore. This was done carefuUy, 
taking bearings which told me when I was exactly opposite 
* Nat. Lib., 1843, Vol. XIV., p. 139. 
t Grierson's MS. Notes, October 17th, 1862. 
% Trans. D. and G. Nat. Hist. Soc, December 13th, 1901. 
