114 Transactions. 
Buzzard is seen, sometimes at a great height, sailing slowly and 
gracefully in circles—at other times hunting along the hillsides. 
The grouse appear to be very much afraid of this bird, as, on 
two occasions, when one crossed the valley to the opposite hill 
they seemed to clear off it altogether in the wildest manner, A 
pair of buzzards nested until three or four years ago on a rock on 
the farm of Appin, but they have not returned since their young 
were taken from the nest by some labourers, who had been work- 
ing in the district. It seems a great pity that such fine birds as 
the hawks should be persecuted as they are. The harm which the 
larger ones would do to game would be but trifling, while some 
of the sinaller ones feed largely on vermin. The Tawny Owl is 
common in the wooded parts, nesting occasionally in a hole in 
the ground, but more frequently in hollow trees. Books on 
British birds give the number of its eggs as from three to 
five, but although not a season has passed for a long time 
without my knowing of one or more nests, I never saw 
more than three, and in four cases out of five, not more than 
two eggs. The Long-eared Owl is rare. It evidently lays 
its eggs in pairs, at a considerable interval, as in a nest 
of four found recently two were almost hatched, while the 
other two were not more than half. From the situation of a 
nest (amongst heather) found many years ago, it must have 
been that of the Short-eared Owl, the only instance of its occur- 
rence. But once has the nest of the Barn Owl been observed, in 
a rabbit-hole. The female was wantonly shot. The Spotted 
Flycatcher is plentiful. On all the streams the Dipper is found. 
This bird sticks very closely to the same nesting site, there being 
several places, generally by a water-fall, which are never without 
anest. The same nest is used year after year, if not carried 
away by floods. The moss of which the outer part is composed, 
being gathered fresh from the stones by the burns, frequently 
grows, when the situation is a damp one, forming a dense water, 
proof covering for the lining of grass, the only part which seems 
to require annual repair. There are almost invariably four or 
five dry oak leaves as an inner lining. The eggs of a pair of 
Dippers were taken last year, and the birds laid a second time in 
the same nest, a very unusual occurrence, not, however, until 
they had another a few hundred yards from the first almost com- 
pleted, when it was swept away by a swell in the river. They 
evidently considered that time would not permit of their building 
