378 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



The next two groups are also unrepresented in our exhibits, 

 save by a single specimen of mica-schist from Otter, in Group 4. 

 To the Ardrishaig phyllites belong the rocks at Dundarave and 

 in the four islands above Loch Gilp — Liath Eilean, Glas Eilean, 

 Eilean Aoghainn, and Fraoch Eilean. 



For the names of the specimens exhibited we are indebted to 

 Mr. B. N. Peach, F.R.S., H.M. Geological Survey. 



Heronries, Past and Present, in the Clyde Faunal Area. 



By Hugh Boyd Watt. 



[Read 25th April and 29th August, 1899.] 



The Common or Grey Heron {Ardea cinerea, Linn.) is a resident 

 bird of frequent occurrence in our district in localities suitable 

 for it, sometimes straying within the bounds of the city of 

 Glasgow, ^ but of its breeding-places, in spite of both the 

 ornithological and antiquarian interest which attaches to them, 

 no adequate or detailed account exists. The late Mr. R. Gray, in 

 his published works, refers in a general way to local Heronries ; 

 Mr. Henry C. Young, in his " List of Birds which breed in the 

 vicinity of Glasgow," marks the species "R" (rare), and names 

 only Hamilton and Inverkip ; ^ and Mr. J. E. Harting, in his 

 account of " British Heronries," names ten (some extinct) in our 

 " Clyde" counties, and further remarks " that many doubtless 

 will be surprised to learn that within the limits of the British 

 Islands, the existence of more than two hundred Heronries has 

 lately been established." ^ This figure, which is altogether an 

 under-estimate, has unfortunately found its way into more than 

 one work on British Birds, including Prof. Newton's Dictionary 

 of Birds (1893-6), * where Scotland's share of the above number 



^ Annals of Andersonian Nat. Soc, II., p. 47 (1896). 

 * Fauna and Flo7'a of Clydesdale, <kc. (1876), p. 10. 

 = Zoolorjist (1872), p. 3261. * P. 418. 



