1890-91.] Birds of tJic Great Glen. 439 



Ylll.—BinDS OF THE GREAT GLEN. 



By Mr ARCH D. CRAIG. 



{Read March So, 1801.) 



The Great Glen, as is well known, is that long and lovely 

 valley that rvms diagonally across part of Inverness-shire from 

 the capital town to Fort William, where the three lochs — 

 Ness, Oich, and Lochy — have been united and made to serve 

 as a highway for vessels by means of the Caledonian Canal, — 

 an undertaking of considerable magnitude, and in its day 

 thought of sufficient importance to aspire to the title of won- 

 derful. Description of the canal or the tourist route is, how- 

 ever, no part of the present purpose ; and as the attempt to 

 grapple in a single paper with the ornithology of such a wide 

 area would be impossible, I purpose, with your kind permis- 

 sion, rather to draw attention to the bird life of a portion, 

 and that the richest — viz., the vicinity of Loch Ness, with 

 Glen Urquhart as a centre. Other glens branch off — Loch 

 Ness, including Glen Moriston, Pass of Inverfarigaig, &c. ; but 

 by far the most varied, alike in scenery as in interest to the 

 naturalist, is Glen Urquhart. From long acquaintance with 

 this favoured spot I can fearlessly say that, taking the year 

 all over, so as to embrace both summer and winter migrants, 

 there is no part of Scotland where such a number of species 

 can be observed ; and further, as it is hoped the sequel will 

 show, there are few localities so admirably suited to the shelter 

 and upbringing of the smaller fauna. A very few sentences 

 will roughly delineate the outstanding characteristics that 

 make it so conducive to bird life. At the entrance Loch 

 Ness recedes in the form of a small bay, the only break in its 

 long line of twenty-four miles — the high hills during the rest 

 of its length dipping straight down to the water's edge, and 

 giving little or no scope for the formation of marshy ground 

 that is such a si7ic qua non to many species. Two rivers — the 

 Enerick and Coiltie — here empty their contents into the loch ; 

 but in course of time, through the intervention of spates and 

 bursting of banks, many new channels have been formed, and 



