392 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 
the continued existence of this MHeronry, and the saying 
is current that “when the Herons are gone, the Dukes o’ 
Hamilton will be gone too.” In Arran the latter event has 
recently come to pass, if the saying is to be taken in a literal 
sense, but as regards the Herons, Mr. Patrick Murray, 
Chamberlain of Arran, informs me (in lit., 6th May, 1899) 
that there are twelve nests occupied at present, in Beech 
trees, and that he does not think the Heronry is decreas- 
ing in size, and that it is older than the oldest inhabitant. The 
birds were protected by order of the late Duke of Hamilton, 
and this policy is being kept in force. 
ARGYLLSHIRE. 
Of the extensive portion of this county in “Clyde,” with its 
deeply indented and lengthy coast-line, it is not easy to render a 
complete account, but I have the following information. On 
Loch Long, at Ardgartan, in the Boathouse Wood, in Larch trees, 
Herons have nested since 1870 at least, and are believed to have 
increased in numbers, as they are not allowed to be interfered 
with.” At one time there might be about a dozen nests, and it 
is also reported that there was a nesting place on the neighbour- 
ing property of Coilessan. On 29th April, 1899, I visited 
Ardgartan and the Boathouse Plantation, which is a small patch 
of detached wood, mostly Larch trees and some Scots Firs, above 
the shore of the loch. The trees are not large, and I only 
found one nest, in a Scots Fir, from which I saw the bird fly, but 
the grieve (M‘Dougall) pointed out to me stumps of other Firs, 
in which he remembers Herons nesting, before the trees were 
1 Geo. Milner : Studies of Nature on the Coast of Arran (1894), p 185. 
It may be worth noting that similar traditions attach to other Scottish 
Heronries and noble families. Thomas the Rhymer is said to have 
prophesied that— 
‘* When the heron leaves the tree, 
The lairds of Gight shall landless be ;” 
and Lord Teignmouth, in his Reminiscences, says, ‘‘I found the ancient 
Castle of Darnaway, in Moray, tottering in the estimate of superstitious 
neighbours, who prognosticated ill as a consequence of the seeming 
departure of the herons.” 
2 Mr Donald MacGregor, in lit., 22nd March, 1899. 

