LAST OF THE POLLOK WYCH ELMS, 131 
1904 it was 12 feet 1 inch and 12 feet 3% inches respectively. 
Here again there would appear to be a mistake in measurement, 
or a variation in height where girthed, but there is neither. The 
actual cause of this apparent half-inch increase in seven years 
against two and a half inches in the succeeding five years was due 
to the loss of bark, or rather, it might be said that the 1892 
measurement was exaggerated owing to an unnoticed large piece 
of bark which came off shortly afterwards. 
On rooting out this tree it was found to have a very much 
healthier root system, there being a considerable number of young 
roots, and also a number of fresh tap-roots of varying sizes, the 
latter causing considerable trouble in the operation of uprooting. 
It might be worthy to note in passing that this tree was a 
particular favourite with the starlings. There were several holes 
near the top in which a number of these birds roosted every night, 
and as it was dusk before the felling operations were completed, 
some of the tenants of the top had evidently arrived home and gone 
to rest, as four dead birds were taken out the next morning, no 
doubt having been killed by the shock in the fall. The late 
comers arrived when the tree was being swung backward and 
forward to loosen it, and, perched on the highest twigs, hung 
on tenaciously, either enjoying the oscillation or wondering what 
was wrong with the tree. They stuck to their perch until they 
felt the tree moving rapidly towards the earth, when they took 
wing, none too soon, as in another second it was down with a 
mighty crash, sending a cloud of dust and twigs among the 
culprits who had deliberately brought about its end. Thus fell 
the last of the “ Pollok Wych Elms,” and although it was but for 
a few short years that they had been familiar objects to me, it was 
with feelings of regret that I beheld the last one laid low. 
When this tree was cross-cut off the root it was found to be 
solid throughout, but with the same commercial defects in ring and 
star-shakes as its neighbour. As in the former case, the top 
was so much broken up that only the trunk was measured. 
It had an undivided and practically clear bole of thirty-nine 
feet, where it divided into two. The trunk girthed at 13 feet 6 
inches, 10 feet 1014 inches; and at 27 feet, 9 feet 10 inches; and 
the two tops at four feet above the cleft girthed 7 feet 5 inches 
and 6 feet respectively. It contained in all, according to 
