336 APPENDIX. 



farther south, single birds at times remaining behind until severe 

 weather drove them nearer the coast. 



Blackbird — Turdus merula (Linn.) 



Resident ; partially migratory, many more appearing during autumn and 

 early spring than during the breeding season. We know of one Black- 

 bird — a cock — whose wing, though now quite strong, has been at some 

 time injured at the pinion, and this bird has haunted one particular 

 spot for about five years. Common about Loch Inver, and in sheltered 

 and wooded western situations, but almost unknown in the interior, 

 and not distinguished by name by the natives from the ring-ouzel. 

 Common at Tongue. 



King-Ouzel — Turdus torquatus (Linn.) 



Summer visitant, and spread through the whole of the milder districts 

 of the east, where there is a mixture of rocky hillsides or burns, 

 amongst which this species delights to nestle. Early in April it gives 

 notice of its arrival by its pleasant whistle (it can scarcely be called a 

 song) being heard in all its accustomed haunts ; in late summer it 

 will occasionally enter the gardens with the blackbirds after fruit. 

 Abundant in the west, especially amongst the limestone rocks of 

 Assynt, and along the burns which rush headlong from Ben More. We 

 have taken three " clutches " of eggs in one short afternoon. 



Family SYLVIIDiE. 



Hedge-Sparrow — Accentor modularis (Linn.) 



Resident ; common ; extending its range wherever plantations are spring- 

 ing up ; it has now got up to Badenloch, in the centre of the county, 

 where there are a few trees planted round the shooting-lodge. Occurs 

 also far from wood, as for instance at the back of Ben More Assynt, 

 by the heather-clad shores of the Gorm lochs, where a pair seen by 

 us evidently had young. Common at Tongue. 



Redbreast — Erythacus rubccula (Linn. ) 



Resident, and common in the east, though nowhere, strictly speaking, an 

 abundant species. One day in December 1S82 we observed a number 

 of Robins in the Dunrobin grounds ; there were at least ten in as many 

 square yards. Has increased around Loch Inver in the west, since the 

 plantations have got up, and is not uncommon there. Common at 

 Tongue. 



Redstart — Ruticilla jrfimnicurus (Linn. ) 

 A summer visitant to the east, and extending its range, as it is now 

 found a considerable distance up several of the straths in the district, 

 where there is sufficient wood for shelter and food. In 1870 it was 

 not such a common bird as it is now in the Dunrobin district. In the 

 north of the county it is reported as rarer in 1877 than formerly, "and 

 none for the last five years," by Mr. J. Crawford, but we have found 

 it increasing of late years in the west of the county, and spreading 

 down the valleys towards the sea. Observed at Altnaharrow in 1881 ; 

 as early as 1878 near Loch Inver, and bred and reared young at Inch- 

 nadamph for the first time in 1880. (MS. of E. R. A.) Proceeding 

 westward, up to 1875 we only remember seeing it on two occasions 

 in the county — once at Loch Awe in the west and once at Rosehall, 

 but as early as 1834 Selby saw it at the latter locality and once at 

 Oykel Bridge. In 1864 an unusual migration of this species occurred 

 upon the Caithness coast on or about the dates of 8th, 9th, 10th 

 October, with a furious south-east gale, as recorded by Mr. Osborne. 

 (Field, Jan. 9, 1864.)] 



