102 NAIRN. 



I have seen. There are a few white-fronted geese feeding in 

 certain places about the loch. The brent-geese are exceedingly 

 numerous on the grassy banks, which are left dry at low water. 

 There are a good number of woodcocks about the woods, pro- 

 bably birds remaining here to breed. The sheldrakes are also 

 coming inland. 



April 5th. Shot a white-fronted goose at Lochlee. 



April 13th. The roebucks have not yet lost the velvet from 

 their horns. 



April 19th. I found a wild duck's nest in a tuft of very 

 high heather near a peat moss, with thirteen eggs, apparently 

 within a week of hatching. I broke one of them to try. The 

 nest placed in a situation where it seemed impossible that the 

 young birds could ever have managed to crawl, and at some little 

 distance from any pools of water. I also found a grey crow's 

 nest with four eggs. The old bird caught my attention by 

 the sneaking and quiet way in which she new out of a thicket 

 of Scotch firs. I. also killed a leveret larger than an old rabbit. 



May 3rd. When fishing near the river I found great 

 numbers of young eels under the gravel, my attention being 

 first called to them by a Skye-terrier, which accompanied me, and 

 who employed himself in turning over the stones and eating the 

 eels which he found under them. 



September 8th. I commonly find the crabs about the rocks 

 near Whitburn with their shells quite soft, having just cast their 

 covering of last year. On some occasions the cast shell is found 

 quite whole, even to the covering of the eyes and horns. On the 

 10th I found one in this state, the crab having apparently only 

 just finished the operation of extracting herself, as she was living 

 in the crevice of the rock, close to the empty shell. What 

 is remarkable (but invariably the case), the animal immediately 

 on having cast her shell increases considerably in size to a very 

 great degree ; in fact, the only time that the crab has to grow in 

 is almost instantaneously on casting, as her skin commences 

 immediately to harden into a new shell, and this done, all in- 

 crease of size is impossible. Before casting, the flesh of the crab 



