
HERONRIES IN THE CLYDE FAUNAL AREA. 387 
Crawfordjohn there isa story, dating, say, half-a-century back, that 
the factor on the Douglas estate, writing Lord Douglas to be 
moved to exterminate:the Heronry, then propounded the riddle— 
‘‘Why are Herons like traitors?” Answer: ‘“ Because they hatch 
high trees-on” (sic)”! Gilkerscleuch is at an altitude of 878 feet 
above sea-level, and this, along with the localities next to be named, 
is the highest lying nesting-place of the Heron in our area. 
Douglas is at an altitude of about 650 feet. In the parish of Craw- 
ford, on the Clyde, near Elvanfoot, there was a large Heronry up to 
within the last twenty years ;? but this season there are only two 
nests in Newton Wood (altitude, about 890 feet), and two are 
also known in Yewsgill Wood, on the farm of Castle Crawford 
(altitude, about 850 feet), and a further two in Glespin Wood, on 
the farm of Midlock Crawford (altitude, about 880 feet). These 
nests are in Scots Firs 20 to 30 feet high.* The only other 
Heronry I know of on the Clyde was at Hamilton, where 
up to about fifteen or twenty years ago nests were very 
numerous, both in the Heron Hill and Barmichael Woods (near 
Bothwell Bridge). They are believed to have been introduced 
by Alexander, the 10th Duke of Hamilton (1767-1852), who 
had them fed for many years in the Basket Hill Wood until 
they got attached to the place.‘ His Grace seems himself 
to have been attached to these birds, for between 1800 and 
1810, when he lived at Ashton Hall, Lancashire, he “brought 
some Herons from Hamilton Palace and had them in the pad- 
docks.”> At Hamilton in 1835 there were about 30 nests in the 
loftiest trees, and it is remarked that the “birds are frequently 
attacked by the carrion crow, on their return from their fishing 
expeditions, and the prey snatched from them;”® in 1856 the 
nests were “ very numerous ;”* and in 1876 the locality is one of 
the two named in the Fauna and Flora of Clydesdale, &c., p. 
10. At Forrestfield there used to be a Heronry, but it is about 
1 Rey. J. D. W. Gibson, in lit. to Mr. John Paterson, 22nd April, 1899. 
2 Fide Mr. A. Fingland, Eglinton. 
3 Mr. J. Cranstoun, in lit., 30th May, 1899. 
4 Mr. G. M‘Dougail, in lit. to Mr. G. Cleland, 14th Nov., 1898. 
5 F, §. Mitchell: Birds of Lancashire, 2nd ed. (1892), p. 143. 
6 N.S.A., VI. (1835), p. 261. 
’ Fide Mr. G. M‘Dougall, 
