38 
the pasture lands of Tumberry Warren farm, from which they 
make daily visits to the beach. On 24th July, 1869, we noticed 
a flock in which there could not have been fewer than 500 birds. 
The Whimbrel (Numenius arguata). 
Almost never seen with us but in May, during its migratory 
flight northwards. A few are tempted to travel along the shore 
as far as the Clyde estuary, where they linger about two weeks. 
The principal flocks appear to take a more direct line to their 
breeding quarters, by steering for Islay, Jura, and Mull, and 
thence to the outer Hebrides, where they make a longer stay. 
The Common Bedshank (Totanus calidris). 
Breeds in both counties, and is nowhere more common than in 
the Bay of Luce, from Port-William to the Drumore coast. Its 
summer haunts are numerous throughout the district, and present 
a variety of scenery, from the low lying marshes of the south of 
Wigtown to the chain of moorland lochs lying embosomed among 
some of the finest mountain ranges in our district. We have 
observed it in small flocks on the coast as early as the beginning 
of July. 
Obs. —The Green Sandpiper ( Totanus ochropus ), and the Wood 
Sandpiper (T. glareloa), have both occurred in districts bordering 
upon our limits, but not exactly within the prescribed boundaries. 
The Common Sandpiper (Totanus hypoleucos). 
This lively species is very common from April to September, 
frequenting ever^ stream, and many of our moorland lochs, on 
the banks of which they breed in considerable numbers. On the 
Girvan Water, which is subject to frequent floods, these birds 
instinctively avoid places for nesting inside the embankment, and 
invariably betake themselves to the adjoining turnip and potato 
fields, where the nest is often found under shelter of the leaves 
of the growing plants. The young, on being hatched, are led by 
both parents to the water’s edge, where they remain almost con¬ 
tinually until able to shift for themselves. We have also found 
the broods in drains and ditches communicating with the river. 
In the autumn the families assemble, and follow the stream to the 
sea, where they remain a week or ten days before finally leaving 
the coasts. 
