BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 409 
in a marsh such as we have noticed, on the banks of the 
Sol way at Southerness, where a few pairs annually breed."* 
From the above it is gathered that about seventy years 
ago the Redshank did not nest far from the coast. Now 
it does so throughout the county, and Mr. R. Service, 
dating this extension in their breeding-range from about 
1880, adds : " Long after my boyhood, when nesting rambles 
occupied in their season every hour of spare time, there were 
no Redshanks to be found breeding away from strictly 
shore localities. As I have said, they are everywhere 
now-a-days in spring, "f This extension is believed to be due, 
not so much to a change in the habits of the Redshank, as 
to an increase in their numbers, and it will be interesting 
here to note the distribution of this species in some of the 
more inland parishes in spring. 
Richard Bell of Castle O'er states that prior to 1887 or 
1888 the Redshank was unknown in Eskdale, but that in 1901 
two or three pairs were observed, and that they were believed 
to breed on the farm of Dumfedling.J He wrote me in 
1908 : " There were none a few years ago ; now several 
nest at head of Eskdalemuir parish." Mr. J. Milne-Home 
writes me from Langholm that the Redshank is heard passing 
over in April, but that it does not nest in that locaHty. 
Mr. J. Little from Moffat informs me that this species was 
first noticed in a marsh below the town about 1904. In 
Nithsdale, Mr. Thomas Ballantyne writes that the Redshank 
was first seen in Sanquhar parish in 1883, and that it 
has greatly increased since then ; and Mr. A. Park informs 
me that it was known in the vicinity of Kirkconnel 
prior to 1900. In Glencairn, the Redshank in 1888 is 
recorded as nesting annually at Loch Urr § ; but Dr. J. W. 
Martin in 1901 states that five years ago this species 
was a rare visitor to Glencairn, though " now a pair 
* Nat. Lib., 1842, Vol. XII., pp. 201, 202. 
t Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Glasg., 1905, Vol. VIII., p. 56. 
X Trans. D. and G. Nat. Hist. Soc, April 17th, 1901. 
§ Op. cii., November 10th, 1888. 
