BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 313 
being that of 1888. The literature on the subject is 
exhaustive, and of these visitations only those of 1863 and 
1888 were observed in Dumfriesshire. 
William Hastings, speaking of the appearance of Pallas's 
Sand-Grouse in 1888, says : " About some twenty-five or 
betwixt that and thirty years ago [i.e., 1859-1864] I had 
two specimens of the same kind of bird sent me for preserva- 
tion. If I mistake not, they came from the Moffat district, 
but they were too far gone, and did not make good 
specimens."* These possibly may have been two of the 
birds of which Mr. R. Service wrote to H. A. Macpherson : 
" Hastings the taxidermist had three Sand-Grouse in 1863. 
One was from somewhere in the neighbourhood of Lockerbie, * 
the other two from Kirkbean, Kirkcudbrightshire." 
During the incursion of 1888, " seven nice specimens " 
obtained locally were received by WiUiam Hastings for 
preservation.! Richard BeU of Castle O'er wrote me that 
a small flock of Sand-Grouse was seen in Eskdalemuir in 
1888, in May— an exceptionally early date for the species 
to have occurred in Scotland, though in Cumberland (near 
Longtown) two flights of about a dozen birds were observed 
by Robert Moscrop on May 21st.J On June 9th of the same 
year four Sand-Grouse were seen at Ruthwell, and others 
were observed at Cummertrees and Lochar Moss,§ and in this 
latter locahty they were often seen during the next two 
months by WiUiam Jardine of Tinwald Downs. On June 1 3th 
a party of ten crossed over to the Scottish side of the 
Solway from Wolstey farm, Cumberland, and on June 25th 
a smgle bird was seen coming to the Cumberland shore 
from Scotland.ll On July 17th a large flock was seen in 
Cummertrees, and three days later a flock of eight or 
* Trans. D. and G. Nat. Hist. Soc, February 1st, 1889. 
t Loc. cit. 
% Fauna of Lakeland, 1892, p. 319. 
§ Visit of Sandgrouse to Scotland in 1888, p. 16. 
59-7?'^"'**' Westmorland Assoc., 1887-1888, No. XIII., pp. 
