392 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



the continued existence of this Heronry, and the saying 

 is current that " when the Herons are gone, the Dukes o' 

 Hamilton will be gone too." ^ In Arran the latter event has 

 recently come to pass, if the saying is to be taken in a literal 

 sense, but as regards the Herons, Mr. Patrick Murray, 

 Chamberlain of Arran, informs me (in lit., 6th May, 1899) 

 that there are twelve nests occupied at present, in Beech 

 trees, and that he does not think the Heronry is decreas- 

 ins in size, and that it is older than the oldest inhabitant. The 

 birds were protected by order of the late Duke of Hamilton, 

 and this policy is being kept in force. 



Argyllshire. 



Of the extensive portion of this county in " Clyde," with its 

 deeply indented and lengthy coast-line, it is not easy to render a 

 complete account, but I have the following information. On 

 Loch Long, at Ardgartan, in the Boathouse Wood, in Larch trees, 

 Herons have nested since 1870 at least, and are believed to have 

 increased in numbers, as they are not allowed to be interfered 

 with. ^ At one time there might be about a dozen nests, and it 

 is also reported that there was a nesting place on the neighbour- 

 ing property of Coilessan. On 29th April, 1899, I visited 

 Ardgartan and the Boathouse Plantation, which is a small patch 

 of deta\jhed wood, mostly Larch trees and some Scots Firs, above 

 the shore of the loch. The trees are not large, and I only 

 found one nest, in a Scots Fir, from which I saw the bird fly, but 

 the grieve (M'Dougall) pointed out to me stumps of other Firs, 

 in which he remembers Herons nesting, before the trees were 



^ Geo, Mihier : Studits of Nature on the Coast of Arran (1894), p 185, 

 It may be worth noting that similar traditions attach to other Scottish 

 Heronries and noble families. Thomas the Rhymer is said to have 

 prophesied that — 



" When the heron leaves the tree, 

 The lairds of Gight shall landless be ; " 



and Lord Teignmouth, in his Reminiscences, says, "I found the ancient 

 Castle of Darnaway, in Moray, tottering in the estimate of superstitious 

 neighbours, who prognosticated ill as a consequence of the seeming 

 departure of the herons.'' 



2 Mr Donald MacGregor, in lit., 22nd March, 1899. 



