BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
with which I have been favoured. All records of the 
" goldeneye " nesting in the county have been taken to 
refer to the Tufted Duck. 
The Goldeneye arrives here about the middle of October, 
and though sometimes seen as late as May, usually departs 
in April. Writing to his friend, P. J. Selby, from Jardine 
Hall on May 4th, 1850, Sir WiUiam Jardine says : " Yester- 
day I saw a Morillon : very late." The same writer, 
describing in 1832 the birds of the parish of Applegarth and 
Sibbaldbie, says : " The golden-eyed duck . . . ascends 
the river (Annan) during winter in small flocks, most of them 
in the plumage of the first year ; they swim up the shallow 
streams and destroy considerable quantities of spawn."* 
In the Catalogue of the Birds contained in the collection of 
Sir William Jardine, are recorded four specimens from the 
River Annan, two being from near Jardine Hall. 
In 1854 a Goldeneye is included in a Hst of "Birds of 
rare and beautiful plumage " got near Sarkfoot, stuffed by 
Mr. Andrew Plenderleath of Longtownf ; and on January 
22nd, 1858, a pair of " golden-eyed garrots"J are reported 
from Dumfries district.§ Thomas Maxwell, of AUanton Mill, 
told Dr. Grierson in 1862 that the "Golden-eyed Teal "was 
frequently met with during the winter months. Mr. R. Service 
states : " In the winter of 1878 and spring of 1879 the Golden- 
eyes were abundant on the River Nith. I had the pleasure 
of seeing a group of six beautiful adult males, on the water a 
Httle below Mavisgrove at dayhght on the morning of the 
last day of January."|| This is noteworthy, as adult males 
are but rarely seen, the full plumage not being assumed till 
the bird is four years old. A stuffed specimen of a very 
fine male, now at Drumlanrig, was shot on the Nith near 
* New Stat. Acct. Scot., Vol. IV., p. 181. 
t Dumfries Courier, March 28th, 1854. 
t The word " Garrot," a French name for the Goldeneye, was probably 
applied to this species on account of its rapid flight, one meaning of the 
word being a crossbow-bolt. {Diet. Birds, 1893-1896, pp. 309, 310.) 
§ Naturalist, 1858, Vol. VIII., p. 117. 
11 Trans. D. and G. Nat. Hist. Soc, November 7th, 1879. 
