BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 361 
the plumage of the species from "a specimen killed in 
Dumfriesshire, in the end of March."* The Catalogue of the 
Birds contained in the collection of Sir William Jardine includes 
only one local specimen, obtained at Gillesbie in the parish 
of Hutton and Corrie. After the auction of Sir William's 
collection on June 17th, 1886, H. A. Macpherson wrote to 
Mr. R. Service that a Dotterel shot in March on the Scottish 
side of the Solway had been included in the sale; this bird he 
gave to Mr. Duckworth. Collectively these references give 
the history of this bird. March is a remarkably early date 
for the occurrence of this species ; flocks, or as they are more 
properly termed " trips," of Dotterel having seldom been 
noticed before May, usuaUy in the latter half of that month. 
In an article on this species T. C. Heysham wrote in 
1838 : " I have examined all the upland moors . . . always 
without success in the south-western part of Scotland, 
where indeed it is of very rare occurrence, even during its 
periodical flight, the line of the migration of the passing 
bodies that visit us in the spring being along the eastern 
coast of Great Britain."! 
In 1871 Robert Gray writes : Sir William Jardine has 
lately written to me as follows : ' The Common Dotterel 
(Ch. morinellus) used to appear regularly in spring and the 
fall in some moors near this [Jardine Hall, Dumfriesshire], 
and I have reason to suppose that one or two pairs bred here. 
I did not discover the locahty until too late, and they have 
left now, but I have specimens shot during the spring visit. 
The locality is about five miles from this.' "{ Robert Gray 
continues : " It is not to be expected that the few breeding 
locahties from the heights of Dumfries to Inverness-shire 
will be otherwise than scantily occupied. I am doubtful, 
indeed, if more than a dozen pairs are to be found nesting 
together in any part of Scotland. "§ This was written in 
* Nat, Lib., 1842, Vol. XII., pp. 297, 298. 
t Mag. Nat. Hist., 1838, Vol. II., pp. 295—304. 
t Birds of West ScoUand, 1871, p. 256. 
§ Op. cit., p. 257. 
