454 Birds of tJie Great Glen. [Sess. 



bunting, about the marshy swamps of Urquhart Bay, snow 

 bunting on the high grounds during severe winters, chaffinch, 

 mountain finch during tlie winter months, greenfinch, and of 

 course our old and somewhat impudent friend the house- 

 sparrow. As to tlie tree-sparrow (Passer mo7itamcs), this 

 rarer bird may with safety be scheduled, as I am perfectly 

 positive I saw a pair at a place called Pitkerrald, near Drum- 

 nadrochit village, the slightly smaller size, and different wing 

 and cheek markings, being easily recognisable, and stamping 

 them at once as being clearly not the common variety. Over 

 the brightly plumaged goldfinch the wail of the coronach might 

 well arise : it no longer exists, and this is all the more to be 

 regretted, as from twenty to twenty-five years ago it was a 

 constant source of delight to the lover of nature. No doubt 

 the improved farming, and consequent destruction of thistles 

 and other weeds upon which it partially fed, had much to do 

 with the diminution in its ranks ; but the crowning stroke 

 was perpetrated by a band of professional bird-catchers, who, 

 by their mercenary and wholesale clearance, deserved to be 

 consigned to a choice nook in Dante's Purgatorio in order to 

 expiate their sins. Though practically unknown now in 

 Glen Urquhart itself, a few may be met with in other 

 offshoots from the Great Glen, hence its inclusion in the 

 list. Eunning rapidly over the rest, we have the starling 

 gradually increasing, and, from being a rarity, becoming a 

 numerous species, nesting in holes of trees, roofs of houses, 

 and among rocks. The dipper, or water-ousel, is sparingly 

 scattered here in comparison with our Lowland burns and rivers, 

 and it does not seem to be upon the increase. The Turdidte 

 or thrushes are typified by the stay-at-home missel thrush, 

 mavis, and blackbird ; as also by the partial dwellers, the 

 fieldfare, redwing, and ring-ousel, — the latter summer visitor 

 being far and away the most interesting. We must not omit 

 to mention the sober little hedge-sparrow, the self-satisfied 

 robin, the brightly plumaged but somewhat wary redstart, and 

 the lively wren. The last-named, in addition to the woods, 

 seems to have a great hankering after solitary places be- 

 side the river, and among jumbled rocks, far removed from 

 human habitation ; and it is sometimes startling, when sitting 

 quietly amidst such surroundings, to hear this little creature 



