896 The Zoologist— September, 18G7. 



the kingfisher in the 'Zoologist' for 1864 (Zool. 8954). I am glad to 

 be able to state that they have now increased in numbers. A nest I 

 took with seven eggs, and to which reference is made in my note, 

 consisted simply of fish-bones in different stages of decomposition ; 

 they seemed to be mixed up indiscriminately with the eggs, and when 

 I took my hands out of the nest I could scarcely bear the " ancient 

 and fish-like smell " which exhaled from them and the hole together. 

 The kingfisher seems to be more abundant here in antumn than at any 

 other season. The female lays her first egg about the 10th of April. 



Swallow. — The swallow is common here as elsewhere. They are 

 said to remain much longer in the neighbourhood of the Carron Iron- 

 works than elsewhere in the county, owing to the great heat from the 

 large furnaces, but this I consider as very doubtful. The annual 

 arrivals for the last eight years date, as nearly as I can make out, as 

 follows : — In 1859 they arrived on the 22nd of April : in 1860 on the 

 24th of April ; in 1861 on the 12th of April : in 1862 on the 22nd of 

 April; in 1863 on the 18th of April ; in 1864 on the 14lh of April ; in 

 1865 on the 10th of April ; and in 1866 on the 16th of April. I have 

 in my collection two eggs of the common swallow, pure white. 



Martin. — The house martin is becoming in some localities, scarcer 

 every year. A few years ago they used to build in the corners of our 

 own windows, but not one is now seen in our immediate neighbour- 

 hood. Either the sparrows must have banished them from Dunipace, 

 or the stone of our house is of some peculiar kind which prevents them 

 from fastening their nests as they would like. I remember in one 

 window in particular, which faced the north, the birds had always 

 great difficulty in fixing their nest. The martin is, however, quite 

 plentiful in many parts of the county. 



Swift. — The "craw" or "black martin" is tolerably abundant, 

 laying their eggs, as in other places, in the spires of village churches 

 and other buildings : they also breed numerously in the ruins of Tor- 

 wood Castle, and again in the thatch of a cottage in the village of 

 Larbert : the inhabitant of the cottage tells me that they have frequent 

 squabbles with the sparrows for possession of these holes, in which 

 fights he thought that the sparrows generally got the mastery. A man 

 in the village one day caught a " black martin " with his fishing-rod : 

 he was walking along the river-side with his flies streaming behind him 

 in a high wind, when a swift dashed down and successfully hooked 

 himself: the man told me that he thought "the deil himsel' had paid 

 him a veesit," because he knew well enough that he was quite clear of 



