408 The Birds of Nairn, [Sess. 



two birds which equal or surpass it, the Skylark and the 

 !N'ightingale. 



The " Sea-blue bird of March," the Kingfisher, has long 

 been a desideratum in this county, though its occasional 

 presence at long intervals of time has been recorded. The 

 Wheatear is nowhere very numerous, but it is generally dis- 

 tributed throughout the area. The Eedstart, on the other 

 hand, I regard as a rare bird, though I have seen it once or 

 twice in the mountain water-courses at the upper verge of the 

 middle zone. The Warblers are proverbially a shy family, and 

 therefore difficult to observe. Most common of the family in 

 this area, and probably throughout the kingdom, is the Willow 

 Wren. In the month of June its characteristic roulade is 

 heard in every wood and plantation. At that season each 

 acre seems to harbour a pair of Willow Wrens, and the bird 

 is so little afflicted with the family shyness that it is easy to 

 discover the beautiful domed and feather-lined nest under lee 

 of its sheltering shrub or tussock. The Sedge-warbler, or 

 Scottish Nightingale, as it has been called, may most readily 

 be seen or heard by Litie Loch, Lochloy, Kingstep quarries, 

 or other pools of water where reeds and sedges furnish con- 

 genial cover. The Whitethroat, or Nettle Creeper, is another 

 species which summers in the county, but which cannot be 

 called plentiful. The Golden -crested Wren is a well -au- 

 thenticated Nairn bird, though 1 regard it as a transient 

 visitor of infrequent occurrence. The Common Wren, one of 

 our most charming songsters, is abundant throughout the 

 county, and is found indifferently in the most remote solitudes 

 and in the immediate vicinity of human settlement. The 

 Eobin, which, if the word " warble " has any significance, is 

 the prince of warblers, though not technically entitled to the 

 name, is abundantly plentiful, keeping himself to himself 

 when the breeding season is on, but becoming sociable again 

 after his moult, and returning to his winter quarters and 

 human society in the town gardens. Our one accentor, the 

 unobtrusive Hedge Sparrow, is universally distributed, though 

 not by any means too numerous ; nor is the Common 

 Sparrow, though sufficiently numerous, such a plague in 

 Nairn as I have seen him elsewhere. Of the Titmice, the 

 most common are the Blue and the Cole-tit. The Greater 



