NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OP GLASGOW. 137 



shore in winter. On the north side of Helmsdale there are very 

 suitable localities for its breeding, but I have never had time to 

 examine them there. 



40. Dipper. Oinclus aquaticus, Bechst. — Most burns have a pair 

 or more of these cheerful little birds upon them, and they breed 

 pretty much in the same spot, year after year. Early in February, 

 if not before, the male may be seen, singing away on a stone or 

 lump of ice in the middle of the river. One nest that I found 

 would most certainly have been washed away the first heavy flood 

 that came in the river, if I had not taken it ; the birds never came 

 there again.* 



41. Missel Thrush. Turdus viscivorus, Lin. — Common and 

 increasing. They are later in building in the Xorth than in 

 England, as I find I took a nest at Glenrossal on the 18th of June, 

 1875, which contained four fresh eggs. I have often seen the nest 

 and old birds at Balnacoil. 



42. Song Thrush. Turdus musicus, Lin.— Common everywhere. 

 One nest I took at Balnacoil was placed on the ground among a 

 tuft of rushes, and that, too, in a very damp place ; the nest was 

 deserted. 



43. Blackbird. Turdus merula, Lin. — Scarcely as common as 

 the Song Thrush. 



44. King Ouzel. Turdus torquatus, Lin. — A common species in 

 the breeding season. It is a shy bird, and I have rarely taken its 

 nest. Those I procured in Sutherland contained three, four, and 

 five eggs respectively. Stray specimens often remain until very 

 late in the autumn. 



45. Fieldfare. Turdus pilaris, Lin. — This species and the 

 Redwing arrive in large numbers in the autumn, and the flocks at 

 first remain on the hill-sides. The greater bulk, however, soon go 



* Once persecuted as a fish destroyer in the West of the county, now not so 

 generally molested. I am glad to say I have succeeded in getting the blood- 

 money removed from their heads at one place, where rewards were paid up to 

 as late as 1880. That they cannot have been common here is shewn by 

 statistics which I have. In 1875, 10 were killed ; in 1876, 7 ; in 1878, 6 ; in 

 1879, 12. Previous to 1875 no records of any being killed appear to have been 

 kept, though records of other species of " vermin," in my possession, date back 

 as far as 1870, in this district. It is earnestly hoped the blood-money en these 

 innocent heads will be everywhere entirely withdrawn. In the Reay country, 

 in 1873, and up to the first six months of 1879, no less than 368 were 

 slaughtered. This destruction has also been put a stop to. — J. A. H.-B. 



VOL. V. K 



