Mr A. Craiij, Jan., on the Birch of Glenurquhart. 101 



estates this bird still occurs to do all in their power to x^i'e- 

 veiit its externiiiiation. There is no douht that its numbers 

 have decreased very materially of late years, even in favour- 

 able localities for its habitation. Some have attributed this 

 to the increase of the jackdaw, which has driven the choughs 

 from their breeding haunts. It is not my intention to discuss 

 this matter at length now, but an instance or two may be 

 quoted where these birds reside together on a friendly footing. 

 Mr Graham, in his '* Birds of lona," published in the " Na- 

 turalist" for 1852, states that "these birds (choughs) always 

 maintain a friendly footing with the jackdaws, associating 

 with them in their feeding excursions, and sometimes accom- 

 panying them home — indeed, one pair is permitted to breed 

 along with the daws on St Columba's Tower." An anony- 

 mous author in the ''Naturalist" for 1850 denies that the 

 jackdaw is displacing the cliough, and instances a locality in 

 Pembrokeshire where they breed harmoniously together. Mr 

 Gray, however, is of opinion that in the localities which he 

 has visited, the decrease in the numbers of the cliough is 

 only to be accounted for by the ravages made on its nesting- 

 places by the yearly increasing jackdaw. Be this as it may, 

 there is little doubt that the bird has suffered much of late 

 years at the hands of gamekeepers and others, who have 

 ruthlessly slaughtered it at every opportunity; and unless 

 proprietors delete the bird's name from their vermin list, and 

 use their utmost endeavours to preserve it in every possible 

 way, there can be little doubt that ere long it will cease to 

 inhabit these islands. 



I have to mention my indebtedness to Mr Harvie-Brown 

 and Mr Gray, both of whom have given me great assistance 

 in the collection of material for the foregoing paper. 



II. On the Birds of Glenurquhart, Inverness-shire. 

 By Archibald Ckaig, Jun., Esq. 



(Read loth March 1882.) 



There are few districts in Scotland which offer greater 

 scope for the study of ornithology than Glenurquhart, 



