332 APPENDIX. 



1882 in Assynt. Considerably shot down in game-preserving interests. 

 Rarer in the wooded districts of the south-east ; common in the more 

 central ones. 



This species appears to have been less common in Mr. Wolley's time, 

 as he "was not sure that he ever saw this bird in Sutherland ;" this 

 was in 1852 (cf. Ootheca Wolleyana, pt. I., p. 105). 



Kestrel Falco tinnunculus (Linn.) 



Breeding visitant ; rarely resident ; very common in the east throughout 

 the breeding season, laying its eggs in any convenient hole in the rocky 

 burn-sides so numerous in the Highlands. The birds generally leave 

 the higher ground about September, and migrate to the coast, where 

 they remain a short time before going farther south. The earliest 

 date on which we have seen this bird is February 17, 1884 ; but this 

 may have remained through the winter, which was extremely mild. 



Resident at Tongue, but scarcer in winter than in summer ; indeed, 

 probably the exceptions are residents. 



Sparrow-hawk Accipiter nisus (Linn.) 



Resident : a partially migratory species, numbers of young birds appear- 

 ing about the cultivated grounds in the autumn. This bird is increas- 

 ing very much in the south-east, probably on account of the number 

 of plantations of Scotch fir which are springing up, as in 1870 we only 

 knew of one nest in the immediate vicinity of Brora, and now (1884) 

 the keeper there was complaining to us of their numbers. Holding 

 its own, in spite of persecutions at Tongue, though other hawks are 

 becoming scarce. Not known as yet in the west. We have never seen 

 the nest of this species in birch-woods in Sutherland, but Mr. Booth 

 mentions the fact of their breeding in such places, as, for instance, in 

 an old hooded crow's nest on a birch-tree at Loch Craggie. 



Kite Milvus ictinus (Savigny). 



At one time a common bird, the Kite is now extinct, nor does a 

 Sutherland specimen exist in the Dunrobin Museum, though there is 

 one in the collection of the late Mr. Dunbar of Brawl. Mr. Macleay, 

 the well-known birdstuffer in Inverness, writes to us : "When I was 

 a boy the Kite was a very common bird in Sutherland, and I once got 

 its nest. It was no uncommon thing to see half a dozen together, 

 circling about in the air at Rosehall." Since then the cutting down 

 of all the large trees and continued trapping have done their work, 

 and the Kite exists there no longer. Some fifty years ago the Kite 

 used to be seen in the Helmsdale Strath, but our informant could not 

 say whether it nested there. It had become rare by St. John's time 

 A.D. 1849. 



Common Buzzard Buteo vulgaris (Leach). 

 By no means a common species in the east, though a season rarely 

 passes without a few being seen. The only nest that came under our 

 observation in this district was taken from a rock below which the 

 Blackwater, the principal feeder of the Brora river, runs, in May 1874 ; 

 although, we understand, neither bird was killed, the site does not ap- 

 pear to have been occupied again. There used to be a breeding-place 

 near Loch Naver, but the birds were always trapped or shot before they 

 brought out their young ; this was previous to 1869. Much scarcer in 

 the west by 1877 than previously, many old sites being deserted or 

 tenantless. One season we took no less than eight sets of eggs within 

 a radius of 10 miles. In 1877 the only nest in the district was 10 miles 

 off. But in 1878 a previously occupied site was again used, and young 

 brought out. Reported to us as exceedingly rare in Assynt in 1884. 



Rough-legged Buzzard Archibuteo lagopus (Gmel.) 

 Very rare autumn visitant. We have seen a specimen from Helmsdale 



