BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
This species in some seasons is almost decimated by a 
diphtheritic infection. In the winter of 1907-1908 several 
dead birds were picked up in various parts of this county • 
but perhaps nowhere were there more deaths than at Henley- 
on-Thames, Berkshire, where thousands of Wood-Pigeons 
were found dead below the trees. Recent investigations go 
to prove that this epidemic of diphtheria occurs when 
many Pigeons have congregated together where beech-mast 
and acorns are plentiful ; and infection may be carried by 
regurgitated portions of infected food being devoured by 
previously healthy individuals. 
The peculiar feather-disease which is frequently noticed, 
IS always associated with moult, and Mr. C. B. Ticehurst 
informs me that " the cause is unknown and that the disease 
has nothing to do with diphtheria." It is interesting to read 
of such an outbreak locally in February, 1852, concerning 
which Mr. Richard Rimmer wrote from Kirkmichael House : 
I have shot a great many [Wood-Pigeons] and I think 
I am not wrong in saying that one-third have been in a 
most deplorable condition, mattering under the wings and 
thighs, feathers loose, and altogether presenting a diseased 
appearance."* 
THE STOCK-DOVE. Columha cenas, Linn^us. 
Local name — Rock-Dove. 
" Thou stockdove whose echo resounds thro' the glen. 
Ye wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny den. 
Thou green-crested lapwing, thy screaming forbear— 
1 charge you, disturb not my slumbering fair ! " 
Robert Burns. — " Sweet Afton.'* 
m^Ii^v of 'Jl:.r n"^i!''T^^^ numbers throughout the county, though 
many of our locaUy-bred birds migrate south in autumn. 
The above quotation is from Messrs. W. E. Henley and 
Thomas F. Henderson's edition of The Poetry of Burns, 1901. 
* Naturalist, 1852, Vol. II., p. 206. 
W 
