WASTE GROUND AND SUBURBAN 

 BIRD-LIFE: 



A Glasgow Study. 



By John Paterson. 



(Read Jth October, i8gi, and nth January, iSgj.) 



When the first part of this paper was read to the Society the 

 entire area was without the city of Glasgow, but before the reading 

 of the second portion it was wholly included by the extension of 

 the city's boundaries. Nowhere, it may be safely said, do changes 

 in the avi-fauna of a district proceed more rapidly than within the 

 boundaries of a great commercial city such as Glasgow, where 

 one locality after another which may have been the home of rural 

 peace for centuries is swallowed up by the much-abused specula- 

 tive builder to satisfy the demands of a population which is con- 

 stantly growing in numbers. Notwithstanding the tenacity with 

 which some birds cling to localities the physical features of which 

 may have been altered or obliterated, there comes a time when 

 their continuance becomes an absolute impossibility by the substi- 

 tution of the tenement house with its unadorned backyard for the 

 cottage with its orchard. The picture is not a fanciful one, as it 

 reflects the history, within quite recent years, of many spots in the 

 area to be described. 



The observations which follow refer to the years 1888-92, and 

 the area included is scarcely more than a mile across any way that 

 may be taken. Not only is it within the new city boundaries, 

 but it reaches the boundary line on its eastern side alone. Its 

 limits may be defined as bounded on the north by Butterbiggins 

 Road ; on the south by the road which leads from the Mall's Mire 

 Burn through Hangingshaw, and eastwards by Mount Florida to 



