IX. 



BIRD-LIFE IN A WEST-HIGHLAND 

 PARISH. 



ALTHOUGH general interest in the study of 

 ornithology has greatly increased of late, a large 

 proportion of the public have but little exact 

 knowledge of the subject, and do not realise how 

 rich our country is in its bird-life. Mr. Howard 

 Saunders 1 gives 382 different species enumer- 

 ated as recorded in our islands ; and when we 

 eliminate those rare visitors, of which fewer than 

 six examples have been obtained, some 74 in 

 all, there yet remain over 30x3 undoubted and 

 distinct species ; to which fall to be added those 

 additional visitors that have been recorded during 

 the last ten years. It may serve as some encour- 

 agement to those who are attracted by the charm 

 which this study adds to country life or country 

 holidays, to give shortly the results of observa- 

 tion and record during the last few years in a dis- 

 trict on the shores of Loch Awe in Argyllshire. 



* List of British Birds, 1899. 

 93 



