VERTEBRATE FAUNA OE SUTHERLAND AND CAITHNESS 161 



Caprimulgus europseus, L. — Nightjar. — Very rare, if not altogether 

 absent, about Brora, in 1890. (W. Baillie. ) 



lynx torquilla, L. — Wryneck. — A Wryneck was killed at Berriedale 

 on the 1 6th of October 1889, and the following extract from 

 a letter from the Hon. G. Lascelles to Lord Lilford, and for 

 which we are indebted to Prof. Newton, gives the curious way 

 in which the bird was captured : — " It was a curious thing 

 that one of the falcons at Langwell stooped from a high pitch 

 and cut over stone dead a Wryneck out of the heather — the 

 only specimen that any of the men about had ever seen in 

 that county. What was he about out on the hill ? and do you 

 think they are really very rare in Caithness?" {In lit. 9th 

 November 1889.) 



Alcedo ispida, L. — Kingfisher. — A Kingfisher was seen on the 

 Golspie Burn in October 1887, by Major Reid and Mr. 

 Melville, gardener at Dunrobin. Another was seen on the 

 Brora above the bridge, on nth August 1890; a stiff breeze 

 from the east had prevailed for the three previous days. (VY. 

 Baillie.) 



Cueulus eanorus, L. — Cuckoo. — We saw one at Lothbeg Burn 

 when out rabbit shooting on the 28th October 1886. 



Strix flammea, L. — Barn Owl. — Mr. G. R. Lawson has informed 

 us of two other occurrences of this bird in Sutherland. Mr. 

 Lawson himself shot one at Loch Tubernach, near Brora, in 

 August 1880, and another was killed at Clynelish in the 

 summer of 1887. The remains of another were picked up by 

 Mr. John Ross, near Garnsary, not long dead, in April 1890. 



Asio aeeipitrinus, Pall. — Short- Eared Owl. — A bird of this 

 species was shot at Dornoch in August 1889. They are very 

 rare birds in Sutherland in the summer season, and not common 

 at any time. 



Asio otus, L. — Long-Eared Owl. — A Long-Eared Owl was shot 

 at Forss on the 14th February 18S7. There is a good-sized 

 plantation there, one of the largest in this part of Caithness, 

 though mostly consisting of hard wood. Two Long- Eared 

 Owls haunted the very small plantation at Badenloch for more 

 than a year in 1889 and 1890, though they did not seem to have 

 bred there. They were often seen hunting about the garden, 

 and were never disturbed. 



Syrnium alueo, L. — Tawny OwL.--In a letter to Harvie-Brown 



from Mr. C.J. I loldsworth, dated 11th August 1890, the latter 

 gentleman states that (luring that season he came across three 

 young and one old Tawny Owl in the neighbourhood of 

 Scourie. 



