[SPECIMEN PA OE. ] 
100 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE. 
in confinement till May, 1887, when seven couple were 
liberated. They were seen for a few weeks in the vicinity, 
but then disappeared, and subsequently " one or two were 
reported as having been seen and shot in different parts of 
Scotland."* 
The occurrence of this species being due to importation, 
it cannot be regarded as a genuine visitor to the county. 
It is an inhabitant of the United States, migrating south- 
wards to Central America.] 
THE STARLING. Sturnus vulgaris, Linnaeus. 
Local name — Sturling. ^ 
*• The Starling flew to his mother's window stane. 
It whistled and it sang ; 
And aye the ower-wordf o' the tune 
Was — ' Johnie tarries lang ! ' " 
"Johnie of Breadislee,'' Ancient Nithsdale Ballad. 
A very common resident throughout the county, but subject to partial 
as well as general migrations. 
At the end of the eighteenth century there is reason to 
believe that the Starling was quite common. 
Sir Wilham Jardine writing in 1832, says :— It " is found 
in flocks during autumn and spring, but few in number ; 
having diminished much of late years. In 1819 and 1820, 
flocks of many hundreds frequented the holms on the 
Annan, but of late not more than from ten to twenty 
have been seen together."J About the time that Sir 
WiUiam wrote. Sir Charles GranviUe Stuart Menteath sent 
a pair of young Starhngs to Closeburn Hall to be brought 
up and liberated. They were entrusted to WiUiam Hastings, 
then an under-gardener on the estate (subsequently the taxi- 
dermist of Dumfries), " who did as he was instructed ; 
and in the following year, one was shot and no one knew 
* Fauna of Argyll, 1892, pp. 80, 81. 
f Refrain. 
i New Stat. Acct. Scot., Vol. IV., p. 180. 
