124 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



THE BIRDS OF RENFREWSHIRE. 



By John Robertson and T. Thornton Mackeith. 



Renfrewshire, from the south-eastern extremity, in 

 Eaglesham parish, to the Cloch Lighthouse in the north- 

 west, is 30| miles long, while its greatest breadth, from the 

 foreshore at Erskine to Kilbirnie Loch, is 13 miles. The 

 area included within the parliamentary boundaries is about 

 240 square miles, a small county, but, considering its size, 

 one of great contrasts. A large part of Glasgow, the towns 

 of Paisley and Greenock, and many other smaller communities 

 within its borders, make it one of the most populous of 

 Scottish counties. On the other hand, there are the lonely 

 moors of Eaglesham, Duchal, and the Misty Law range, 

 rising to 1711 feet in the Hill of Stake; spacious, rolling 

 uplands, where the face of nature has altered but little, if 

 at all, for centuries. Bounding the shire on the north and 

 west is the busy waterway of the River and Firth of Clyde, 

 with its estuarine mud-flats and stretches of sandy shore. A 

 county of generous rainfall, especially along the higher 

 ground, Renfrewshire is drained by three main streams, the 

 Gryfe, Black Cart, and White Cart, which unite and enter 

 the Clyde by the same channel near the town of Renfrew. 

 Numerous lochs and reservoirs, a fair number of scattered 

 woodlands, expanses of fine agricultural land, grassy dairy- 

 farms, pastoral uplands, peat-mosses, and heather-clad tracts, 

 all combine to form a delightfully varied landscape, with 

 scarcely a trace of savage grandeur, unless, perhaps, on the 

 flank of Misty Law. 



The " Family " order observed in the following notes on 

 the ornithology of the county is that adopted by the late 

 Howard Saunders in the second edition of his Manual of 

 British Birds. 



The number of species recorded for the county is 197, of 

 which 103, distinguished by an asterisk, have nested within 

 recent years. 



The following books are referred to where " Gray " is 

 given as reference : — Birds of tJie West of Scotlafid, Birds 



