374 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
and many other injurious animals. The good done by the 
Lapwing cannot be overestimated," thus writes Mr. Fred 
V Theobald,* and to this Ust of food may be added, 
cockchafers and also the larvm of the antler-moth (Cluirmas 
{jramiMis), so injurious to upland hill-pastures. ^ 
In 1905 1 found a Lapwing which proved to be the subject 
of advanced tuberculosis." I had seen the bird in the same 
spot for several days, and on July 23rd ran it down and 
caught it. Wishing to know from what it was suffermg, 
I sent it to Dr. C. G. SeUgman, who subsequently figured the 
intestines of the bird in the Proceedings of the Royal Society 
of Medicine, and wrote : " So rare is the disease amongst 
wUd birds that we venture to append a figure showmg 
advanced tuberculosis in a Lapwing which was captured m 
a moribund condition in Scotland."t I have on several 
occasions found birds of this species in early autumn, whose 
feet and legs had become so entangled in httle fleeces of 
sheeps' wool as to render these members swoUen and 
distorted ; such birds were always emaciated and thm, and 
must sooner or later have died a miserable death. 
In autumn and winter, if Lapwings are seen divmg 
and tumbUng in the air they are said locally to predict 
rain, a simUar prediction being foretold if Rooks behave m 
the same manner at sunset. 
THE TURNSTONE. Strepsilas interpres (Linnseus). 
A .crce winter.vi.itant to the Solwy ; more abundant in autumn. 
The shores of our coast are not suitable for this species, which 
is, however, occasionally seen at the mouths of the Annan, 
*°Sif wimam Jardine writes in 1842 : " We have frequently 
shot the young and adult states of the bird on the shores of 
• Science Progress, 1907, Vol. IL, pp. 271, 272. p.th^lnmcal 
t Proc. Roy Soo. Med., November 19th, 1907, Vol. I., Pathological 
section, p. 22, Fig. 3. 
