336 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
Dr. Anstruther Davidson states that they hatched out 
successfully, "found their wings and departed."* It is 
to be hoped that the introduction of the species to Cairns- 
more in the neighbouring county, by the Duchess of Bedford, 
will meet with more success. Mr. Richard Roy informed 
Mr. R. Service in 1887 that Mr. James Marchbank saw 
some Ptarmigan at the head of Fruid Water near Moffat in 
1846 or 1847. Is it possible that these were some of the 
introduced birds from Sanquhar ? 
The Ptarmigan is only found in the higher mountains 
from the vicinity of Ben Lomond northwards. Outside 
the British Isles the species inhabits the ' f jelds ' of 
Scandinavia and Finland above the limit of tree-growth, 
the Kola Peninsula and the Urals ; it is also found 
in the Alps, Tyrol, Styria, Carinthia and the Pyrenees ; 
across Siberia, in the higher mountains to Kamchatka and 
down to the Altai. f 
THE PHEASANT. Phasianus colchicus (Linnaeus). 
Local name — ^Faisan. 
*' Lo ! from yon brake on whirring wings. 
Roused by the finely scented hound. 
The painted pheasant proudly springs. 
But feels, alas ! the flying wound : — 
He wheels around in many a mazy flight, 
Till, spent, he drops from his aerial height." 
NiTHSDALE MiNSTKEL — " To the fall of the Leaf.'' 
A common resident in the woodland and arable districts. 
This species seems to have been introduced to this county 
towards the end of the eighteenth century, for it is reported 
* Hist. Sanquhar, pp. 31, 32. 
t Man. Brit. Birds, 1899, p. 498. 
