BIKDS. 



157 



"bell-edge" slate, though I do not consider the latter situation at all 

 common. These divergences from custom appear to me to be simply 

 caused by " supply and demand," or, in other words, congestion of 

 more choice residences ! 



Mr. J. Milne finds that the Swift arrives with great regularity 

 between the 19th and 22nd of May, and he remarks that in his 

 district it is seldom seen after the 1st of August. 



One of the best things in Mr. George Bruce's book (before cited) 

 is his description of the flight and habits of the Swifts which are 

 so abundant in and around St. Andrews. This account is a very 

 pleasing picture of an observant eye. 



Swifts breed under the eaves of the hotel at Lochearnhead, and 

 have done so for many years to my own knowledge ; and the birds, 

 to the number of some three or four pairs only, travel up the sides 

 and valley of Glen Ogle, or later in the year accompanied by the 

 young. They do not seem to increase in numbers. 



It is almost unnecessary to minutely define the distribution ; but 

 a few notes out of many may be added. They are abundant about 

 Kenmore and Aberfeldy, as noted by Mr. W. Evans in 1857 ; and he 

 met with several examples on the summit of Mheall Gruaidh in May 

 of the same season (3280 feet). I have seen upon two occasions 

 Swifts hawking and capturing Crane-flies at high elevations ; once 

 quite certainly at about 2500 feet elevation (on Ben More, Suther- 

 land), and again, not so surely, on Farragon in Tay, and this as late 

 as August. In the instance given in Sutherland, two were flying 

 low over a very high-lying loch, where the Snow-Bunting's nest was 

 found by Messrs. Peach and Horne, and I noticed most distinctly 

 that the Crane-fly was caught, though I do not seem to have written 

 the note down. 



I know of two localities where Swifts breed in the highest cliffs 

 of the Grampian range. One of these is within the limits of our 

 present area, and the other is just outside, i.e. upon the northern 

 face of the cliff on that side of the watershed (see the Fauna of the 

 North- West Highlands and Skye under the species). 



Obs. — I do not require to do more than just refer to the Strath- 

 ardle tale of Alpine Swifts nesting in a high precipice in that valley 

 — a tale long told and several times repeated, but scarcely necessar}' 

 to say utterly unauthenticated (see Annals Scot. Nat. Hist., 1 897). This 

 tale was told to me many, many years ago, and I never considered it 

 the least worthy of confutation or repetition. 



During my rapid survey of Tay in May and June 1905, I 



