NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 301 



The nest was found by a party of mowers while at work in a 

 rye-grass field. Quails were abundant in some districts of Wig- 

 townshire about seventy or eighty years ago. 



Obs. — It may here be remarked, that in the Statistical Account 

 of the parish of Maybole, published in 1836, the Great Bustard 

 {Otis tarda) is mentioned in a list of the birds of that district 

 prepared by Dr M'Tyer. We have no means, however, of now 

 proving the authenticity of this record. 



GEALLATOBES. CHABABBIDJE. 



The Golden Plover (Charadrius pluvialis). 



Very abundant, and resident all the year, frequenting the moors 

 in summer during the breeding season, and the sea-shore at low 

 tide in winter. Wlien the tide is full they repair to fallow gi'ounds 

 in the interior, sometimes travelling inland to a considerable 

 distance. They seem to know instinctively at what hour to leave, 

 so as to reach the coast when the rocks and sands are being 

 exposed as the water recedes. On these occasions the flocks are 

 immense, covering many acres of the shore, and sometimes 

 packing so closely as to form a vast ornithological causeway. In 

 the months of February and March, al^out the time when plovers 

 partly assume their breeding plumage, Mr Anderson has seen 

 flocks alighting in grass fields on Enoch Farm, and literally 

 covering about eight or ten acres of ground. A noted haunt for 

 this species in Ayrshire is the farm of Turnberry Warren, about 

 five miles north of Girvan, where many thousands congregate in 

 the pasture lands near the sea about the middle of July. 



The Einged Plover (Charadrius hiaticula). 

 One of the commonest shore birds from Ayr Heads to the Mull 

 of Galloway wherever a stretch of sand occurs. Large migratory 

 flocks appear to congregate on the shores of the Mull of Galloway 

 in autumn. These flocks break up and disappear as winter 

 approaches. 



The Sanderling (Calidris arenaria). 

 About the beginning of August this species is found in con- 

 siderable numbers on the shore near Girvan, but does not remain 

 there longer than two or three weeks. We have repeatedly, and 

 in some seasons invariably, found it in pairs, resting on the wet 



sand at low tide. 



2o 



