380 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



subject. I am glad to have this opportunity of acknowledging 

 my indebtedness, and expressing my thanks to all who have 

 assisted me. 



Ayrshire. 



Beginning in the south of our area, at Glenapp, Herons have 

 seldom been known to nest, and not for many years ; ^ and at 

 Lendalfoot, Mr. C. Berry told me (8th April, 1898) that he knew 

 of no Heronry in his district, although the birds coming about 

 were all immature. I consider these negative records, when 

 obtained from reliable sources, worth noting here, even although 

 they only amount to a clearing of the ground, particularly when 

 they refer to localities from which the bird has been reported as 

 breeding. Mr. Berry had heard something of them breeding up 

 about Barrhill, and this rumour probably has reference to 

 Loch Goosey, which, although in Ayrshire, is beyond the Clyde 

 watershed, and drains into the Cree (" Solway "). Mr W. C. S. 

 Fergusson, formerly secretary of the Ayr Natural History Society, 

 knew this Heronry as long as he could remember, and he was often 

 at Loch Goosey ; he remembers " some years ago a notice appeared 

 in the papers offering a reward of £20 for information against 

 some party who had robbed the nests." ^ With this token of 

 vigorous protection in mind, it was a disappointment to me 

 when I visited the loch (3rd April, 1899), not to see a single 

 Heron ; on the small trees on the island were to be seen what 

 might be two nests, but I was unable to get across to them. 

 There is never likely to have been a large number of nests 

 here, as, while the island is thickly set with trees, mostly Birch, 

 it is of limited area, and the trees are small in size. In 

 the Girvan Valley I know of uo Heronry, but in a recent 

 year (1897?) there was one nest at Kilkerran; and some years 

 ago a Heron was shot on its nest, which was placed on the 

 edge of the bank of the River Girvan. ^ Up till about fifteen 

 years ago, a good many Herons built in a wood at Craigengillan 

 (Dalmellington), mostly in Larch trees, but the storms of 1884-85 

 blew all this wood down, and since then there has been none 



1 Mr. Trevor Eyton's MS. notes. 



2 In lit. to Mr. John Paterson, 11th June, 1895. 



^ Mr. R. Kitchin, in lit. to Mr. G. Rose, 25th January, 1899. 



