BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 467 
Vertebrate Fauna of Lakeland : " In bygone years we used 
to regard this Petrel as the most frequent representative 
on our coasts of the family to which it belongs, and 
there can be no doubt that such it used to be. Moreover, 
it occurred inland on more numerous occasions than the 
Fork-tailed Petrel. Whatever the reason may be, there can 
be no doubt that this species has become rarer on our coast 
than it was at one time, while the larger species has visited 
us in larger numbers than was formerly the case."* It is 
difficult to reconcile the statements of these two authorities ; 
but there is no doubt that Sir William Jardine's "observa- 
tion" of 1843 is applicable to the two species nowadays. 
Some of the old records of the occurrence of the Storm- 
Petrel in Dumfriesshire probably refer to the next species ; 
and it is impossible now to check their authenticity, but 
with this preamble I give them for what they are worth. 
In February, 1857, W. G. Gibson records a specimen which 
was caught some time previously in a small burn, " in the 
parish of Kirkmahoe, upwards of thirty miles from the Solway 
Firth ; it appeared to be much fatigued, but after two 
days rest, in a cage, on being taken out, it made right for 
the sea."t A " Stormy Petrel " was recorded in December, 
1866, as recently caught in the neighbourhood of Annan. { 
In the Annan Observer of November 19th, 1872, it was stated 
that Mr. Peter Muir, taxidermist, Ecclefechan, had just 
had through his hands " a rare bird, got on the Solway coast ; 
it is the small black Stormy Petrel " ; and this may be the 
same specimen as that recorded as " killed recently at the 
mouth of the Annan," and exhibited to the Dumfriesshire 
and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society 
on December 3rd, 1872. Mr. Hugh Mackay states in the 
Dumfries and Galloway Standard of May 29th, 1895, that 
he had a specimen of the Storm-Petrel from Newbie 
(Annan) about the end of January, 1895, and he adds that 
* Fauna of Lakeland, 1892, p. 456. 
t Notes for Naturalists, p. 48. 
i Trans. D. and G. Nat. Hist. Soc, December 4th, 1866. 
GG 2 
