376 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
vicinity of Southerness [Kirkcudbrightshire] must be seen 
to be beUeved It breeds in smaU numbers aU round 
our shores, doing so on the sheU beds weU withm highest 
watermark, . . . or [on] . . . the merse banks . . On the 
Annan and the Nith . . . occasional pairs nest far mland on 
gravel beds and low meadows. In September and October 
single birds or pairs, or sometimes smaU parties,are frequently 
seen on the inland pasture fields far from the sea. I have a 
strong impression that we see the Sea-Pyets at mland localities 
far more frequently than was formerly the case * This is 
certainly so, and the reports of the appearance of the Oyster- 
catcher far inland are now of common occurrence. On 
June 7th, 1880, Dr. Grierson wrote to Mr. R. Service from 
ThornhiU • " The other day an Oyster-catcher {Hmmatopus 
ostralegm) was brought to me. It was shot here. I never knew 
of the bird having been taken in this district, and I would 
Uke to know from you . . . if you have known of it bemg 
seen inland." . .„ 
This species now nests annuaUy near ThornhiU, on the 
gravel-beds of the River Nith, and in May, 1908, a pair was 
seen above Auchansell (Durisdeer) twenty-four mUes inland ; 
so that what was a novelty to Dr. Grierson m 1880, was but 
a forerunner of what are now summer-visitants. Mr. R. Arm- 
strong informs me that a pair have nested for many years at 
the junction of the Scaur with the River Nith. He first 
saw them there in 1890, and there are never more than one 
pair, but he has occasionally seen, and more often heard, 
small parties passing up the Nith. On the Cairn these birds 
have been seen above Crossford Bridge, some eighteen miles 
from the sea, in 1904 and 1905, and three are believed to have 
been seen some years ago on the Annan below Moffat, twenty- 
five miles inland. In the spring of 1907 and again in 1908 
a pair were seen for about a week on the Esk three miles below 
Langholm, but apparently did not nest; and Mr. James 
Malcolm writes me in 1908, that his son captured an Oyster- 
catcher some years ago in the neighbourhood of that burgh, 
* Traru. Nat Hist. Soc. Olasg., 1905, Vol. VIII., pp. 49, 50. 
