12 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



Authorities east of the Denny Hills all agree they were 

 rare birds about 1860, and began to get common about the 

 next decade (say 1870). 



But one valued correspondent Mr. David Cram of 

 Bonnybridge -takes exception to the above dates, and, from 

 notes in his possession, says : " They became abundant as 

 early as 1852 or 185 3," and he remembers the first obtained 

 in 1834. In that year he took a nest himself, the first we 

 have record of. The next was of young ones procured at 

 Carnock, Carse of Falkirk, which were reared by Mr. John 

 Ure, Shoemaker, Larbert, who is still alive, and verifies the 

 statement at about 1850. It is supposed locally that Star- 

 lings came from the direction of Ayrshire. 



Coming now out of the "carse-lands " on to the "dry 

 fields," and up the valleys which come down from the Denny 

 Hills, my neighbour, Mr. John Laing of Langhill, puts their 

 advent at about the same time as most recorders here, viz. : 

 " Twenty years ago, or thereabouts, it was a rara avis" and 

 boxes were put up to encourage them. Mr. Laing imagines 

 they came from the east. In I 869, only one nest existed, in 

 a hollow tree at Mr. Laing's house. Now (1891), there are 

 six pairs breeding. 



At Sauchie, farther to the north, by the east base of the 

 Central Hills, Sir James Maitland, Bart, observed them first 

 in 1888 a late date. Now, in winter, they appear in 

 thousands. We have known them to swarm in winter upon 

 rhododendrons on an island on Larbert Pond since, at least, 

 1880; and now (1891-94), we have returns from many 

 localities all along the northern base of the Central Hills, 

 upon the " dry field," and between these and the Carse of 

 Stirling and Vale of Menteith. Colonel Stirling of Gargunnock 

 says his late gardener put the date of first appearance at 

 between I 840 and I 845, an early date, but the first notice- 

 able increase is put down by Colonel Stirling at five or six 

 years previous to 1891 say 1885 or 1886. Mr. James 

 Stirling of Garden puts its first appearance at 1856. 

 (Garden estate is about 10 to 12 miles farther west, and 

 higher up the valley of the Forth than Gargunnock.) " A 

 shoemaker," says Mr. Stirling, "walked from Stirling to 

 Drymen Bridge to take a nest there, sometime in the 



