84 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



in the north of Scotland according to Macgillivray, but is reported 

 by various correspondents as nesting regularly in the counties of 



Aberdeen, Sutherland, and even in Caithness." 



Since the above was first penned, I find that Mr J. Crawford 

 also includes it as "breeding occasionally at Tongue," (in ejnst.) 

 This is doubtless a species which -will increase its northward 

 range of distribution, as land becomes better wooded and more 

 cultivated. 



LONG-EARED OWL. 



ASrO ACCIPITRINUS (Pall.). 



Though Mr Selby met with no owls (Hewitson) in 1834 in the 

 county, this species is known to breed now in the eastern districts, 

 at Rosehall, and also in a large pine wood fringing the shores of 

 Loch Migdale, near Bonar. I have never received the eggs nor 

 seen the birds, but the fact of their breeding regularly, if not 

 commonly, is well known to the inhabitants. In the north Mr 

 J. Crawford reports it as "breeding in the woods at Tongue." 

 In the west it is quite unknown at present. 



SHORT-EARED OWL. 



AS 10 OTUS (Linnaeus). 



Few nests, that I can hear of, have actually been obtained in the 

 county. That recorded in " Ootheca Wolleyana " may have been 

 taken either on the Ross-shire or Sutherlandshire side of the river 

 Oykel, as Loubcroy stands within a stonecast of the river on the 

 Ross-shire side, although "Ross-shire" being printed with a (1) 

 shows that there is some doubt as to the precise locality, Mr A. G. 

 More includes it as breeding " regularly " in a number of counties, 

 including Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness. I myself obtained 

 one egg not far from the march of the county. Specimens are 

 frequently shot in autumn on the hillsides, and those, I have 

 little doubt, would prove on examination for the most part to be 

 birds of the year, bred probably on or near the ground where 

 they were killed, and not migratory birds from more northern 

 localities. Though breeding in Orkney, that county could scarcely 

 be considered to supply the whole of thosci which arc shot in the 

 autumn in Sutherland. 



