BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 415 
assumed full breeding plumage, but it was not noticed that 
any separations for nesting ever took place. So far as I 
can find out, not one was shot, nobody apparently having 
thought of breaking the close time."* 
This species nests in northern Europe and Asia from 
Lapland to the Yenesei, and in the colder months is found 
in northern India, on the shores of the Mediterranean 
countries, and in Africa as far south as SomaUland on the 
east and Gambia on the west. 
THE BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 
Limosa helgica (J. F. Gmehn). 
A rare and irregular visitor to the Solway shores on migration. 
In 1842 Sir William Jardine wrote of the Black-tailed 
Godwit : " This handsome species breeds annually in the 
fenny districts of England, and, during winter, is partiaUy 
distributed along the oozy shores of the Enghsh coast, and 
those of the south of Scotland ; but, although a frequent, 
it is by no means an abundant species."t Tempora mutantur, 
and it is now upwards of sixty years since the last eggs of 
this species were taken in Norfolk, and it has long since 
ceased to be a frequent visitor to the shores of the Solway. 
I must thank Mr. R. Service for pointing out to me that the 
records of this species as given in the Transactions of the 
Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian 
Society, on November 3rd, 1882, and December 7th, 1883, 
respectively, are erroneous. A specimen of the Black- 
tailed Godwit was shot in November, 1881, near Kingholm 
by a gunner named West, and passed into the hands of 
William Hastings, who remarked that it was the first of its 
kind he had ever had to preserve. In November, 1883, 
another specimen, a female, was obtained at the same place 
* Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1908, pp. 85-87. 
t Nat. Lib., 1842, Vol. XIL, p. 192. 
