BIRDS or DUMFRIESSHIRE 337 
from Langholm in 1794 that some Pheasants " sent by the 
Duke of Buccleuch from Dalkeith some years ago, are 
mcreasmg m the woods. Some of them have been shot 
twenty miles distant from their first settlement and 
in 1795 It ,s stated that " they frequently make their appear- 
ance m Canonbie."t Dr. Singer in 1812 says : " The common 
Pheasant now appears in the Duke of Buccleuch's estate in 
Eskdale, and if it escapes from foxes and other beasts of prey 
It may mcrease/'J Apparently it did escape from the 
beasts of prey, for it is recorded circa 1835 as found in 
great numbers in Westerkirk,§ and very abundant in Ewes.ll 
Sir Wilham Jardine, writing of the birds of the parish of 
Applegarth and Sibbaldbie in 1832, says that the Pheasant 
was introduced here about ten years ago, and is now 
n T^i^ ^^^T^^''"^ ^'o^ R^thweU the report comes 
in 1834 : Various kinds of pheasants have within a very 
few years been introduced to these [Comlongon] woods, where 
they were increasing rapidly so long as they were protected, 
but during the last year their numbers have been greatlj^ 
diminished by poachers."** ^ 
Of the present status of the species there is no need to 
wnte at length. On many estates the hand-reared birds 
may be said to exist in a state of semi-domestication ; and 
the Pheasant, being a hardy bird, as well as prolific and a 
great wanderer, may be justly suspected of seriously 
competing for existence with the BIa«kgame on the outer 
edge of our arable districts. Pheasants turn up in the most 
unexpected places nowadays, and are often shot in a Grouse- 
drive at long distances from any covert. 
Abnormalities in plumage are of common occurrence, 
• Stat. Acct. Scot., Vol. XIII., p. 579. 
t Op. eit.. Vol. XIV., p. 413. 
X Oen. View of Agriculture in Dumfries, p. 451. 
§ New Stat. Acct. Scot., Vol. IV., p. 431. 
II Op. cit.. Vol. IV., p. 438. 
1 Op. cit.. Vol. IV., p. 180. 
** Op. cit.. Vol. IV., p. 220. 
