BIRDS. 



277 



At the small wayside inn of Altguish, on the road between 

 Gan^e and Ullapool, we were astonished to find a fine colony of 

 House Martins nestling under the eaves. It was a most desolate 

 place, not another house within sight, and we should think the 

 landlord must have welcomed the cheery little birds as good 

 company in his lonely habitation. This is the only considerable 

 colony we have seen in the north. 



House Martins, usually only a single pair, have a curious habit 

 of suddenly appearing at odd places, often quite in the middle of 

 the breeding season, remaining a day or two and then disappearing. 

 During this time they will flutter round the windows or under the 

 eaves, as if they were prospecting for a nesting-place, and even 

 begin the foundation of a nest. We have seen this both in Suther- 

 land- and Inverness-shires. 



South of the Great Glen this summer visitant is somewhat 

 locally distributed and shifty ; locally abundant one season, and 

 utterly absent from the same spot another. They often shift their 

 nesting-sites, and the reasons for their doing so are not always 

 clear. At Dalwhinnie, Martins were unusually abundant during 

 the cold summer of 1881, and at the same time we find it recorded 

 by Mr. Southwell of Norwich that there was an unusual scarcity 

 of Martins in Norfolk and an unusual abundance of Swifts. The 

 Martins, which formerly bred under the projecting eaves of the 

 hotel at Dalwhinnie, during that season almost utterly deserted 

 these old haunts, and removed to the same locales under the eaves 

 at the railway station ; and a pair or two have this year occupied 

 similar positions in Loch Errochd Lodge, seven miles up Loch 

 Errochd. 



Edward also speaks of their breeding on cliffs on the Banff 

 coast. In 1885 we first observed Martins at Aberlour on Spey 

 on May 5th, but they were not seen about Forres in May at all 

 that year, though they appeared to be pretty common in other 

 localities. Evans failed to see anything of Martins or nests 

 or eggs in July and August 1889 at Kingussie, Grantown, Carr 

 Bridge, and other likely places, where they have been observed in 

 other seasons. One year we found them abundant in June at 

 Dunphail Station (we think 1881), but the next year not one at 

 the same date, nor during the season, as we were informed by the 

 station-master as wo passed on our way south. Evans found some 



