BIRD-ASSOCIATIONS IN SCOTLAND 57 
bordered by woods — an avoidance which has probably 
little to do with food-supply, and is rather the result of a 
mere constitutional preference for the open. The low-cut 
hedges surrounding the fields have too little cover to 
afford shelter to many birds, and they are only sparsely 
populated by such species as Hedge-sparrow, Whitethroat, 
Yellow Bunting, with fewer Chaffinches and Blackbirds, while 
along the hedge-foot, as well as out in the open fields, 
nest the Partridges. 
Reclaimed marsh-land, such as the Carse of Stirling, has, 
as special features, a greater abundance of the Corn-bunting, 
and the Yellow Wagtail is characteristic, though less 
numerous. 
ASSOCIATIONS OF BUILDINGS. 
The birds coming under this heading are those few 
species which are colonists of the buildings erected by 
man, most of them owing much of their range and numbers 
to such buildings. They are few in number and too 
well known to need more than brief note here. As 
conditions go in this country, the section might be most 
suitably divided into the following sub-associations: those 
of village, farm-steading, and ruins. The dominant species 
in the former, it need hardly be said, is the House-sparrow, 
and its most typical associates are the House-martin, 
Starling, Swift, and Jackdaw. The farm-steading, from 
the present point of view, is mainly distinguished by the 
addition of the Swallow, and the Blackbird might also be 
mentioned ; while, on the other hand, the House-martin is 
frequently absent. The last bird, in my experience, is more 
of the village than of the farm. A ruined castle possesses 
much the same fauna as the village, but with the not 
infrequent addition of Barn-owl and, locally, of the Tree- 
sparrow. 
In the foregoing notes I have attempted to indicate 
a few of the main ecological factors affecting the local 
distribution of birds, and to give a generalised account of 
some of the associations into which species group them- 
[IL AND 112 H 
