138 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE 



off further south, and only a few stragglers, or at the utmost very 

 small flocks, are seen in the winter, the most of these even disap- 

 pearing if the winter be very severe. 



46. Spotted Flycatcher. Muscicapa grisola, Lin. — Very common 

 species. 



47. Pied Flycatcher. Muscicapa atricapilla, Lin. — I obtained 

 one specimen near Gordonbush on the 27th of May, 1872.* 



48. Great Gray Shrike. Lanius excubitor, Lin. — I have on two 

 occasions noticed this bird, in both cases in the autumn. 



49. Magpie. Pica rustica (Scop.). — Getting very scarce now, as 

 compared with a few years ago, so much so, that when shooting 

 with a friend last year, I was asked not to shoot one if I saw it, as 

 they had become nearly extinct, f 



50. Raven. Gorvus corax, Lin. — Very common, especially in 

 the late spring and autumn. I do not understand where they can 

 come from, as nests are scarce on the East coast ; yet, about the 

 lambing time or a little later, I have often seen a dozen in a day. 

 In a certain rock near Balnacoil I have seen from eighty to one 

 hundred and fifty Ravens roosting ; they come in detachments 

 from all parts of the country. So numerous are they that, on one 

 occasion, when wanting a pair for a friend, I sent my keeper to the 

 rock, and though he missed the first shot, he got two with the 

 second. { 



* This appears to have been the only specimen ever obtained in Sutherland 

 until the spring of the present year, 1881, when an apparently decided and 

 extraordinary irruption of the species took place, the individuals observed 

 arriving on or about the same day that the Spotted Flycatcher and Cuckoo 

 appeared— viz., the 3rd of May. I first heard of two found dead on the 

 public road, and of another, bearing marks of shot wounds, which eventually 

 came into my possession. The next I heard of were two apparently paired, 

 which appeared near Kintradwell, Brora, as I am informed by an obliging 

 correspondent, Mr. William Houston, of Kintradwell, who writes me: — " They 

 are undoubtedly rare on this coast, and I have never either heard or seen of 

 any with the exception of a single specimen secured by Buckley some years 

 ago in a strangely desolate burn at Balnacoil." — J. A. H.-B. 



t From tables of " vermin" killed at Dunrobin between 1873 and 1880, I 

 find that in 1873, 16 were killed; in 1874, 26. None again till 1877, when 4 

 were killed; in 1878, 2; in 1879, 3; in 1880, 5; in all 56 in 8 years. 



+ These large flocks of Ravens are not commonly seen in Scotland, and 

 such gatherings are not general, but only very local. Other great gathering- 

 places known to me are at the other extremity of Scotland, viz., at certain 

 points along the Wigtownshire coast, and also on the hills of the Stewartry of 

 Kirkcudbright— J. A. H.-B. 



