WASTE GROUND AND SUBURBAN BIRD-LIFE. 119 



the monument commemorating the battle of Langside; on the 

 west by the western boundary of the Queen's Park and Victoria 

 Road; and on the east by Polmadie and the Mall's Mire Burn, 

 which at this point has some topographical distinction, being 

 the city boundary and also the dividing line of the counties of 

 Lanark and Renfrew. In proximity to the Mall's Mire Burn and 

 within our limits are some brick-fields, and the disused workings, 

 now filled with water and forming ponds of small size, are 

 frequented in winter especially by a variety of wandering birds, 

 while in summer they provide abundant food for all our hirundines, 

 among whom the swift and swallow are usually to be seen through- 

 out their stay with us in considerable numbers. 



Most of the ground within our area has been in time past 

 the scene of brick-making, and the portions not yet built on are 

 either presently free coups or ripening for the builder. In the 

 Queen's Park alone can we hope for some little continuity in its 

 bird-life, the rest of the district being the scene of rapid change, 

 except in some places already congested where the sparrow, 

 starling, jackdaw, martin, and swift have entered into possession 

 and may be expected to remain until the present order of things 

 has passed away. 



Falconid^e. — As might be expected, birds of prey are poorly 

 represented within our restricted limits. The sparrow-hawk 

 (Accipiter nisus) is the only member of its class that I have seen, 

 and that only in winter. The first time it came under my 

 observation, I saw it most favourably as it flew from the city 

 southwards over the waste ground between Butterbiggins Road 

 and Govanhill. It made a resultless stoop on some small birds 

 among the docks and thistles there, and became immediately 

 thereafter the recipient of unwelcome attention from a small flock 

 of starlings. 



Turdid,e. — Most part of the year mistletoe-thrushes {Tardus 

 viscivorus) are a well-marked feature of the bird-life of the Park, 

 especially at the pairing season, when they arrest attention by 

 their lively actions and harsh call notes. 



The redwing and fieldfare {Tardus iliacus and T. pilaris) are 

 usually seen each winter in the district. The former is much 

 more easily approached, and in hard weather on a Sunday morn- 

 ing I have seen it on the terrace in the Park within a couple of 



