inhabiting the County of Sutherland. 293 



The black variety (at first supposed to be a distinct species) is met with about the head 

 of Loch Naver, and a large colony of the same inhabits a low sandy island of Loch Laighal. 



19. A. agrestis, Short-tailed Field Mouse. 

 Common. 



20. Capra Hircus, Common Goat. 



A few inhabit the fastnesses of the rocky districts, but it is doubtful if they can be re- 

 garded as indigenous. 



21. Cervus elephas, Red Deer. 



This noble animal is fostered with great care, and is at present numerous in certain dis- 

 tricts of the county. About Ben Stack, whose base is clothed with birchen woods, it may 

 be seen in large herds, as well as about Ben Hope, Ben Laighal, &c. A hind that we sud- 

 denly came upon by the margin of Loch Shin, immediately took the water and swam across 

 the loch, upwards of a mile in breadth. Upon Ben Stack we came upon a young fawn 

 concealed in ferns and low underwood, crouched in its form like a hare; it bounded away 

 with great agility at first, and was supposed to be a roe, but, after a short chase, was pulled 

 down by a water dog that accompanied us, fortunately without receiving any very serious 

 injury. After examination, we left it near the spot from whence it had been roused. 



22. Cer, Capreolus, Roe Deer. 



This beautiful species, owing to the want of extensive woods, is not numerous in Su- 

 therland. 



AVES. 



1. Aquila chrysaeta, Golden Eagle. 



In the mountainous districts this species is still tolerably abundant, although every device 

 is put in practice to capture or destroy them by the appointed fox-hunters and shep- 

 herds, the premiums paid for the adult birds, as well as the eggs and young, being liberal. 

 They attack and often prove very destructive to the young lambs, particulary when their 

 eyry is not far distant from the lambing district of a farm. They are sometimes taken in 

 traps, but more frequently shot, after patient and sometimes long-continued watching. — 

 They breed in the highest and most inaccessible precipices, and it is rarely that the young 

 or eggs can be got at, even by the dangerous experiment of suspending a person by a rope 

 from the summit of the cliff in which the eyry is placed. Several hairbreadth escapes, as 

 well as fatal accidents, were narrated to us by individuals who had been engaged in these 

 perilous undertakings. 



2. Haliaetus albicillus, Cinereous Sea-Eagle. 



Upon the northern precipitous coast of Sutherland the great sea-eagle is still frequently 

 seen soaring above the waters, or his hoarse bark heard when nearly beyond the ken of 

 sight, though persecuted as assiduously as the former species, being considered as equally 



VOL. II. 3 M 



