340 APPENDIX. 



north as Sutherland by Mr. St. John and Sir W. Jardine," etc., but 

 we have never met with it nor heard of it during some eighteen years' 

 experience of the county. 



Tree Pipit — Anthus trivialis (Linn. ) 



Summer visitant ; rare and local. First recorded as a breeding species 

 in 1875, when two pairs were seen and a nest taken at Glenrossal near 

 Rosehall. At the latter place a single specimen had been observed 

 before. Casual visitant in the west ; the only instance of its occur- 

 rence we can recall being that of a solitary example at Inchnadainph 

 previous to 1875. Reported occasional at Tongue. 



Meadow Pipit — Anthus pr a tensis (Linn.) 



Resident ; partially migratory ; abundant everywhere in summer, much 

 scarcer in winter. Rarely occurs above the heather line, at least in our 

 experience, though Selby speaks of it as met with " on the summits of 

 the highest hills." This species, along with the Rock Pipit, were 

 extremely abundant around Durness, and on the peninsula of Far-out 

 Head, where we observed them in 1882. 



Rock Pipit — Anthus obscurus (Lath.) 



Resident ; abundant ; breeding all along the coast, excepting that part 

 from about Port Gower to the Dornoch Firth where the locality is not 

 suitable, but it is found there in the winter. Perhaps most numerous 

 along the north coast ; in great numbers on the peninsula forming 

 Far-out Head, near Durness. Omnipresent on the coast-lines of the 

 west, and on the islands, where it often breeds on the flat ground, 

 under the shelter of a rock or stone, or ledge of turf, like the meadow 

 pipit, though usually choosing the safer positions amongst the sea- 

 pinks of the precipices. 



Family ALAUDIDjE. 



Skylark — Alaucla arvensis, Linn. 



Resident, and abundant ; breeding commonly along the coast-line 

 and the low meadows in the valleys, more sparingly on the hills 

 through the eastern and central districts, retiring from these latter 

 places coastwards as winter approaches. Abundant on the inland 

 moors above Oykel Bridge and around Loch Clashmore. Generally 

 common around Altnagealgach, but farther west, in Assynt, more 

 restricted to cultivated districts. Common at Drumbeg and Point of 

 Stoir, also at Scourie and Altnaharra. 



Family EMBERIZIDiE. 



Snow-Bunting — Tlcctrophanes nivalis (Linn. ) 

 Winter visitant ; common ; only appearing on the low grounds in severe 

 weather. 



Reed-Bunting — Embcriza schcenidus, Linn. 

 Resident ; not common ; generally distributed in the eastern districts ; 

 much rarer in winter, and the same remarks apply in the west. 



Common Bunting — Embcriza miliaria, Linn. 

 Resident, and common, being found along the whole of the eastern coast- 

 line wherever there is sufficient cultivation ; more abundant, appar- 

 ently, in the summer than the winter. Observed in the west at 

 Knockan and Elphin, also at Scourie, and the first observed at Inch- 



