BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
hundred nests, still continues to breed in Lochar Moss. 
Mr. W. F. Graham writes me in 1908 that a good many 
birds breed on Raeburn Moss, and about ten pairs on 
Nutberry Moss (Kirkpatrick-Fleming). In 1908 a pair are 
beUeved to have nested at Townfoot Loch (Closeburn). 
THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 
Larus marinus, Linnaeus. 
A not uncommon visitant to the shores of the Solway. 
As far as I know the Great Black-backed Gull does not 
nest in the county, though on the peat-mosses bordering 
the Cumberland side of the Solway it is known as a breeding 
species. In some winters it appears off our coast in greater 
numbers than in others, as in 1883, when it was recorded as 
very common.* Mr. R. Service writes me in 1909 that this 
species can be seen " every day quartering the long tidal 
banks that stretch for so many miles along the coast from 
the Nith to the Esk. These are for the most part immature 
birds, but when something good gets stranded, such as the 
carcase of a cow, or still more rarely a defunct cetacean, 
then the fine old birds wiU appear and become the hosts 
at the feast. Many Great Black-backed Gulls frequent the 
banks even during the spring and summer ; but these are 
non-breeding birds as a rule, although a good many pairs 
nest at only a few miles distance on the ' Bowness and 
Wedholme flows,' and on the chffs of the Stewartry coast." 
Nothing in the way of animal-food comes amiss to this gull, 
and it is known not only to attack lambs, but the ewes 
themselves. Many of the reports I have received of the 
occurrence of this species far inland, refer I think, with all 
due deference to the reporters, to the preceding species. 
A curious capture of a Great Black-backed Gull is recorded 
in 1837 ; Mr. John Riddick, of Carzield, set a line in the 
* Trans. D. and O. Nat. Hist. Soc, December 7th, 1883. 
