34 



this dashing little hawk is evidently in the land of 

 the heather and mist. 



They are said to be very destructive to game, 

 and as such usually pay the penalty that the posses- 

 sion of a bad name incurs. Whether it is that my 

 own experience with regard to this bird has been 

 too limited to form a correct judgment I am unable 

 to say, but I hardly think that they are the desperate 

 characters that they are generally described. 

 Those which I have seen in the south were usually 

 in pursuit of small birds, and while seeking this sort of 

 prey they are frequently captured in the clap-nets 

 that abound near Brighton. 



On the Grouse moors in the north I have 

 examined the remains of the victims that they have 

 consumed near their nests, and never found any- 

 thing larger than a Dunlin, which bird, with Larks, 

 Pipits, and large moths (principally of the Egger 

 species), seemed to make up their bill of fare. 

 Though frequenting most of the wild rocky glens 

 in the Highlands, they seem to have a partiality for 

 the more open moors, being particularly numerous 

 in the flat parts of Sutherland and Caithness. 



The nest is generally placed amongst the 

 heather on the ground in the open moor. The eggs 

 in the case were, however, taken from the face of 

 a rock overhanging a hill loch in Ross-shire. 



The female was shot, but, being a good deal 

 injured was not retained ; while the male, falling 

 winged among large stones, managed to make good 

 his escape into some hole before I could reach the 

 spot. While searching for him, I stumbled on one 

 of the best concealed whisky stills I ever met with. 

 It will certainly be a particularly cute exciseman that 

 discovers its whereabouts without the help of 

 previous information. 



The male bird in the case was trapped at a 

 nest in Strathmore, in Caithness, in June, 1869, and 

 the female shot in Sutherland the previous montdi. 

 See " Bough Notes," Vol. I., Plate 13. 



