CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 59 



rendered it an easy victim to the trapper, and it is 

 gradually becoming a scarce bird. 



The specimens, with their nest and eggs, were 

 obtained among the hills near Kenlochewe, in the west 

 of Ross-shire, in May, 1868. 



HERON. 



Case 67. 



Formerly the head of the Game list, the Heron, since 

 the decline of hawking, has fallen from its proud 

 estate, and at the present day is but little esteemed by 

 any save plumassiers. 



It usually nests in trees, in smaller or larger com- 

 munities, known by the name of " Heronries." 



The sketch from which the case is copied was taken 

 at the Cromarfcy Rocks, on the north-east coast of 

 Scotland, where some hundreds of these birds con- 

 struct their nests in the ivy-covered face of the cliffs. 



I am not acquainted with more than one or two 

 other localities in the British Islands where Herons 

 build in similar situations. 



A few pairs, however, generally rear their young on 

 a steep hill-side above an almost inaccessible loch in 

 the Western Highlands. 



The specimens in the case were obtained at the 

 Cairn Rhui, on the north part of the Cromarty Rocks, 

 in May, 1869. 



