BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 355 
may nest undetected in many localities is highly probable • 
and I have reports of its havmg done so from Moffat, Ruth- 
weU and Cummertrees. Mr. Copland teUs me that it 
nested on the farms of Briery-hiU and BroomhiU, in the 
/^^ Tl^^' '^''""8 his residence there from 1894- 
1900 and Mr. R. Martin believes that it nests on the Cairn, 
near Dardarroch. 
In the winter months the Water-Rail has been reported 
fnT-r^TT f I ^'^^'^^ P-^^sence 
m suitable localities elsewhere often goes unnoticed ; and the 
exammation of the mud at the sides of our rivers and swamps 
frequently reveals the footprints of this species. Referring 
to a Water-Rail obtained locally in 1888, WiUiam Hastings 
descnbes the species as equally rare as the Spotted Crake* a 
statement not to be taken too seriously. It is interesting'to 
notethatm 1908 Mr. Underwood writes from Lochmaben that 
numbers are seen by the slow running streams," while 
in 1835 the Water-Rail is described as " very abundant 
about the outlets from the lakes "t in that parish M^ 
Hugh Mackay reports finding one frozen to death in the 
M . ^^^^ ' S''^** tells me of two killed 
m May 1908, by flying against the telephone-wires at Ruth- 
weU adding that the Water-Rail is fairly . frequently seen 
m the Lochar Moss. Richard Bell wrote me that the only 
Billholm (Westerkirk) far out on the hill-ground by one of 
his shepherds, but Mr. William Laidlaw from Lower Eskdale 
mfers that the Water-Rail is fairly plentiful. One that I 
shot from an open ditch on Clonra« Farm (Tynron) on 
H m' w'xT '''' I - that 
eS S f • w ^-^^^"^ te"« that one shot near 
^hock (Sanquhar) in January, 1909, is the only one that 
has come under his notice, but Mr. R. McMillan informs me 
that he knew of a nest in Sanquhar parish in 1908. 
Mr. R. Service writes me that he has fairly frequently seen 
• Tram. D. and G. Nat. Hist. Soc., February 1st, 1889 
t New Slat. Acct. Scot., Vol. IV., p. 382. 
z 2 
