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 mv 

 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. 

 I nose which I have seen in the south were usuallv 

 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 anv- 

 thing larger than a Dunlin, which bird, with Larks 

 Fipits, and large moths (principally of the Ewer 

 species) seemed to make up their bill of fare 

 Ihough frequenting most of the wild rocky Hens 

 m the Highlands, they seem to have a partiality for 

 tne 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. 

 . u 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 

 nis escape into some hole before I could reach the 

 spot. ^While searching for him, I stumbled on one 

 ot 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 month. 

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



