Birds. 9173 
and motionless, some in the nests, others perched on the sides: all 
had a rigid and lifeless appearance. The leafless trees, too, with their 
gnarled, weather-beaten and withered lichen-covered branches, have a 
stiff coral-like appearance, and the large flattened nests a blanched 
and petrified look. A colony of jackdaws have taken possession of 
the opposite cliffs, the narrow stream only separating them from the 
herons. What the latter may think of the incessant clamorous cawing 
it is impossible to say, but their noisy chatter may be heard with 
about as much pleasure as a grave man listens to that of an intrusive 
vulgar neighbour. There are in a few of the trees three or four nests, 
some so low down as to be well nigh within reach. The heronry 
might not only be approached with facility from the left bank, by 
fording the stream, but is also accessible on the right, though covered 
and concealed by a wood of larch and other trees, where there is a 
rookery, the inmates of which would doubtless give the herons timely 
warning should an inroad be attempted from that quarter. I observed 
but one bird standing in the water, though at this season fish must be 
abundant. The sea-shore, their usual resort, is but a few miles 
distant. Both sides of the river are well wooded, Jarch and beech 
being the common trees; but some parts are bare, and the stream con- 
fined by shelving rocky cliffs. From the bold prominent point 
referred to, a magnificent view of the river is obtained, both above and 
below the heronry, and is in itself a sufficient attraction. The clear, 
crystal-like stream, owing to the continued drought, is now, apparently, 
little more than knee-deep, and, where the receding margins permit 
the greater expansion of the water, it is seemingly barely sufficient for 
the free passage of the larger salmon, which might readily be seen in 
their upward course. 
Tern.—May. Numbers of these elegant birds are to be seen 
daily at the mouth of the Lossie, feeding and fishing as the 
tide ebbs, standing knee-deep in water, with outstretched and up- 
raised wings. 
Water Ouzel.—June 1. Procured a bird of this species: it is 
7z inches in length, and 10% inches in extent of wings. Though well 
nigh a year old it has not attained its perfect adult plumage. It is 
not commonly met with on the larger rivers: I twice sought for it on 
the Spey, once twenty miles up the river, but did not fall in with if: 
neither did I find it on the Findhorn, and only once on the Lossie, 
near the village of Birnie, about three miles from Elgin; but I was 
informed by a miller that he had not observed their nests there of late 
