314 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
nine was observed flying to the Cumberland from the 
Dumfriesshire coast.* Mr. J. Harkness writes me that 
he saw five go over Priestside Moss during " the year 
they visited Britain." Mr. McLean teUs me that one day 
towards the end of August or beginning of September, 
1888, he was shooting near Ruthwell on the Merse, when he 
saw a bird he did not know. He kept putting it up, and at 
last made up his mind to shoot it so as to have it identified. 
On returning home, he was reading his paper, when he 
noticed a paragraph describing the Sand-Grouse, and referring 
to their protection by law ; he promptly reahsed what was 
the bird he had shot, and, to avoid any possible trouble, 
sent the specimen off to a bird-coUector in Bolton. It is 
unfortunate that the exact date of this specimen cannot be 
ascertained, as the majority of these birds appear to have 
left the locality by August 17th.t 
Such are the facts relating to the occurrence of these birds 
in 1888 in Dumfriesshire, where, owing to the lack of suitable 
haunts, they were not nearly so numerous nor so constantly 
observed as in the neighbouring counties of Kirkcudbright 
and Cumberland. 
H. A. Macpherson wrote on May 4th, 1888, to Mr. K. 
Service of some Sand-Grouse recently shot in Cumberland, 
as follows : The females would breed almost at once. 
One of the ovaries contained an egg as large as that of a 
Blackbird, and another as large as that of a Great Tit, 
both yolked, of course. Very sad, is it not, for the birds 
had begun to pair off to breed." There are no local records 
of the Sand-Grouse having nested, but two clutches of 
eggs were taken near Beverley in Yorkshire, and a young bird 
was found on the Culbin Sands, Moray, by Major Chadwick s 
gamekeeper. In August, 1889, Major Chadwick sent a 
nestling which had been found in the same locahty to 
Professor Alfred Newton, and the contents of this specimen 
were sent to Mr. Service to determine. He found forty- 
* Trans. Cumh. and Westmorland Assoc., 1887-1888, No. XIII., pp. 59-75. 
t Op. cit., 1887-1888, No. XIII., p. 114. 
