BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 413 
young bird in the following month, by Dr. Williamson of 
Carzield (Kirkmahoe). Two were shot at the mouth of 
the Nith near Glencaple in September, 1889, by a gunner 
named West ; and Mr. Norman Maclachlan writes me that 
one was shot at Halleaths (Lochmaben) towards the end of 
September, 1890. Mr. Hugh Mackay records a specimen 
obtained near Dalscone (Dumfries) in the second week of 
January, 1895, and remarks, "it is most unusual for this 
species to appear so early in the year in this district."* 
Miss Dorothea Bate informs me that one was shot on 
Wyseby Moss (Kirkpatrick-Fleming) on August 20th, 1903. 
From the above records it wiU be seen that the Greenshank 
has occurred from August to January, and Mr. R. Service 
states that " there is a suspicion that the Greenshank breeds 
somewhere in the recesses of the Galloway or Dumfries- 
shire hills, as young birds have been shot in a very early 
stage of plumage " f ; but this has yet to be proved. In 
1907 two eggs, thought to belong to this species and taken 
in Closeburn parish by Mr. Samuel Bell, were brought for 
verification to Mr. Service, who could, however, give no 
definite decision with regard to them. 
Towards the end of August, and for some six weeks later, 
this species is often seen at certain favoured spots on our 
shore, as at the mouth of the Nith, and they ascend the 
tidal portion of our rivers to a considerable distance in 
search of food on the gravel-beds. 
The Greenshank nests in the Hebrides and in the north 
of Scotland, where its breeding-range is believed to be 
extending, but in northern Europe and Asia it breeds far 
more numerously. It is observed on many of the coasts 
and inland waters of Europe on passage, and though many 
Greenshanks do not go farther south in winter than the 
Mediterranean basin, the species is found at this season 
over the greater part of the eastern hemisphere down to 
the Australian region. 
* Dumfries Standard, May 29th, 1895. 
t Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Glasg., 1905, Vol. VIII., p. 56. 
