BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 379 
ploughed over, though in a map of Dumfriesshire, published 
in 1853 by Messrs. William Blackwood and Sons, the Black 
and Sand Lochs are both shown. Darduff Loch is marked 
in the map accompanying Dr. Singer's General View of the 
Agriculture in the County of Dumfries, published in 1812 ; 
or perhaps Max welltown Loch (Kirkcudbrightshire), formerly 
known as Babington's Loch, may have been the actual 
spot where they were obtained. 
Writing on December 25th, 1867, Sir Wilham Jardine 
informs Robert Gray that his gamekeeper gave him the 
description of a " bird he saw about six weeks ago, that I 
could make out to be nothing but a Black-winged Stilt, 
and I heard of it being kiUed about eight miles off, but it had 
to be thrown out, and not a feather was to be got."* It is 
noteworthy that in the same year, birds of this species were 
said to have been seen near Don Mouth, Aberdeen, on 
September 15th ; and at Possil Marsh, near Glasgow, for 
three or four days in Octoberf ; so that the bird recorded 
by Sir WiUiam Jardine as kiUed early in November, may 
have been one of a small flock that visited Scotland in 1867. 
The Black-winged Stilt is an irregular and very rare visitor 
to Great Britain or even to central Europe. It breeds in 
suitable localities in Spain, Sicily and Hungary, on the low 
shores of the Black, Caspian and Aral Seas, and in the warm 
and temperate regions of Asia and in parts of North Africa. 
In winter it is found on both sides of Africa and in Madagascar. 
THE GREY PHALAROPE. 
Phalaropus fulicarius (Linnaeus). 
An uncommon and irregular visitor on the autumn-migration. 
The first local specimen of the Grey Phalarope that we find 
recorded, is one shot on the shores of the Solway Firth in the 
* Birds of West Scotland, 1871, p. 304. 
t Op. cit., pp. 303, 304. 
