THE BIRDS OF CARMICHAEL PARISH 213 



KESTREL, Fako tinnunculus (L.), local name " Red Hawk."- 

 Commonest of all the hawks, specially in autumn, when, during 

 some seasons, as many as half a score may be counted hover- 

 ing over Carrnichael Hill. 



OSPREY, Pandion haliaetus (L.) Mr. Plenderleith, Bowhouse, 

 Carmichael, has kindly given me the following particulars : 

 " Over twenty-five years ago, Wm. Young, now dead, then 

 gamekeeper on Carwood Estate, saw occasionally a pair of 

 Ospreys frequenting the Clyde, and one day, when Mr. Plender- 

 leith was in his company, the birds passed overhead, and Young 

 fired at one, which was struck and dropped a grayling. Young 

 came from Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, and knew the Osprey, 

 having seen it there." Mr. A. Telfer has been so good as to tell 

 me that an Osprey frequented the lochs at Douglas for two 

 weeks in May this season, then disappearing for a week to 

 return for another fortnight in June. 



COMMON CORMORANT, Phalacrocorax carbo (L.) This species 

 occasionally visits the Clyde. A few years ago, in autumn, 

 one was shot at the railway bridge at Pretts Mill ; another was 

 seen last autumn a little farther down the river. It also 

 " sometimes appears on the lochs at Douglas " (Mr. Paterson's 

 "Notes"). 



COMMON HERON, Ardea cinerea, L. Frequents the burns and 

 marshes. Mr. Paterson quotes the following from " Zoologist," 

 1872, p. 3268 : "Lanarkshire an old established heronry on 

 large spruce firs in Glespin Wood, near Douglas. In June 

 1870 a single nest was taken on an island in the centre of a 

 Loch near Douglas Castle, the seat of the Earl of Home, and 

 in 1871 two pairs nested in a wood about a mile from this 

 loch." There is now a heronry on an island in a loch within 

 Douglas Policies. The nests are on spruce trees, which are 

 thereby killed (Mr. A. Telfer). Referring to it, Mr. Paterson 

 says ("Notes"): "There might be a dozen nests last year (1894), 

 but Mr. Amos thinks they suffered from the great frost in 

 January and February this year (1895), an ^ that their numbers 

 are reduced. I saw nine or ten birds on May 23, 1895. The 

 birds are protected." 



[NIGHT HERON, Nycticorax griseus (L.) Mr. R. Gray saw a strange 

 Heron, which he believes belonged to this species, frequenting 

 the Clyde at Westraw during June 1896. It appeared to be 

 preying upon the grayling then dying in numbers in the river.] 



BITTERN, Botaunts stellaris (L.) In " S. A." there is the note : " A 

 Bittern was shot five years ago on Biggar Moss, but none have 

 appeared since" (1835). 



