.296 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



a kingfisher, which had been sitting on a twig overhead, an 

 unobserved " companion of the bath," flashed like an emerahl into 

 the water, and ahnost immediately I'eajipeared with a minnow, 

 which it battered on a little ice block, and then devoured. In 

 this group of tiny plungers a beautiful grey wagtail sat in discon- 

 solate silence, the whole of tlie birds forming a somewhat inter- 

 esting "winter assembly. 



' HIBUNDINIDJS. 

 The Swallow (Hirundo rust lea). 

 Very common everywhere, extending to lonely and unfre- 

 quented shielings on the hill sides, and breeding in the rafters, or 

 under bridges spanning moorland burns. Mr Anderson took a 

 nest of this bird in an outhouse at Penkill farm, which Avas built 

 on a tree branch hanging from the roof. This nest is now in 

 Mr Gray's possession. It is composed of the usual materials, but 

 is circular in shape, and profusely decorated with peacock's 

 feathers. After the nest had been removed, the birds constructed 

 another in a similar situation, and bedecked it in the same orna- 

 mental manner. A somewhat unusual site was selected by a pair 

 of these birds this year at the Killochan Station, on the Maybole 

 and Girvan Eailway. The nest was built on the top ledge of a 

 frame of an advertising placard, about eight or ten feet from the 

 ground. 



The Martin [Hinmdo urbica). 

 This familiar species is, as may be supposed, common over both 

 counties, frequenting towns, villages, and farm-steadings. On 

 some country mansions we have counted as many as eighteen and 

 twenty nests built under the projecting eaves, and clustered, in 

 some cases, closely together. A large colony frequents a part of 

 the rocky cliffs near the port of Currarie, a few miles south of 

 Ballantrae. Their nests are placed in fissures of the rock above 

 the mouth of a large cave frequented by cormorants and rock- 

 doves. In wild weather these nests are sometimes in dans-er of 

 destruction by the masses of spray dashed over their surface. 



The Sanp Martin {Hirundo riparia). 

 The haunts of this early summer visitant are met with in our 

 district from the vicinity of the sea-shore to an elevation of ten 



