452 Birds of tJie Great Glen. [Sess. 



is in summer a familiar object on the dykes and wire fences 

 which enclose the fields, and readily marked by its curious 

 habit of darting out a few yards into the air after an insect, 

 and as quickly returning to its perch when the capture is 

 completed. If near enough, on a calm day the snapping to- 

 gether of the mandibles is quite audible. The other flycatcher, 

 known as the pied, cannot be included, though of late years it 

 seems to have become a more regular visitor to the Lowland 

 counties, having bred several times in Peeblesshire, Berwick- 

 shire, &c; The kingfisher, from the statements of many 

 residents, would appear to have at one time frequented the 

 river Ennerick. This, however, is one of those cases where 

 dubiety exists, as the water-ousel often goes among country 

 people by that name, and it is pardonable to suppose that 

 this may be the species referred to, and not Alcedo ispida. 

 A pair of hoopoes were seen a good many years ago by a 

 gentleman while fishing in the river Glass, near Beauly, but it 

 is superfluous to say they can only come under the category of 

 infrequent wanderers. The tiny little creeper is no stranger, 

 and that favourite with poets, the cuckoo, abounds chiefly 

 among the higher slopes of Abriachan, though observed more 

 or less everywhere in the neighbourhood. The nightjar 

 occurs almost every season, but is by no means so plentiful as 

 in many parts of the West Coast, such as Argyleshire or 

 Dumbartonshire. The Hirundinidte are represented by the 

 swift, chimney swallow, house - martin, and sand - martin. 

 The house -martin builds among the ruins of old Urquhart 

 Castle, locally known as Strone Castle, and one of the land- 

 marks of the place. This venerable pile is now fearfully 

 dilapidated, and stands upon a rocky knoll jutting out into 

 Loch Ness. There are traces of a deep fosse and drawbridge 

 spanning the same, so that when the ditch was full of water 

 the whole was converted into an island, and, judging from the 

 extent of the battered remains, when in its glory it must have 

 been a hold of exceptional size and strength. An able 

 pamphlet was written upon its history by a well-known 

 citizen of Inverness, in which its foundation was traced back 

 to so remote a period that, to the unfortunate wight to whom 

 Gaelic literature is a sealed book, it seemed to be contemporary 

 with the days of Joshua, the son of Nun. Without relegating 



