2012 Birds. 



Duich and Alsh, on the Atlantic side. The modest little hedge-chanter (Accentor 

 modularis) was much missed about the homesteads, and yet, according to Macgillivray, 

 it is common in the Hebrides, where there is no wood for shelter. The redbreast was 

 very common in wooded glens. The whinchat (Saxicola rubetra) was very common, not 

 only in the wooded glens, but amidst the most savage scenery of Glen AfFrick and the 

 Falls of the Glomach. The wheatear (Saxicola cenanthe), widely distributed. The 

 redstart (Sylvia phcenicurus), common about Foyers. The whitethroat (Curruca cinerea), 

 pretty common about Loch Ness, and up Strath Glass, as far as Kilmorach. The 

 wood-wren (Sylvia sibilatrix), pretty common about Foyers, and methinks I heard his 

 melancholy call-note in Glen Morrison, a few miles distant from the former locality. 

 The willow-wreu (Sylvia Trochilus) is very numerous in all the wooded glens up 

 Strath Glass, nearly as far as the mountain of Knockphin. The golden-crested wren 

 (Regulus auricapillus), common in woods. The sedge warbler (Sylvia phragmitis), 

 scarce, Glen Urquhart. The wren (Sylvia troglodytes), common in the wildest woods. 

 The pied wagtail (Motacilla Yarrelli), common in certain localities. The gray and 

 yellow wagtail (Motacilla Boarula), only seen near Kin tail, Loch Duich. The mea- 

 dow-pipit (Anthus pratensis), common. The skylark (Alauda arvensis), common in the 

 lower grounds. The greater tit (Parus major) was scarce in the woods ; whereas the 

 blue tit (P. caruleus), the cole tit (P. ater), and the long- tailed tit (P. caudatus), were 

 very common and widely distributed. 



The corn bunting (Emberiza miliaria) occurred sparingly in low-lying cultivated 

 ground about Inverness. The yellow bunting (E. Citrinella) was very common in the 

 cultivated valleys. The black-headed bunting (E. schoeniclus), pretty common. The 

 chaffinch (Fringilla ccelebs), very abundant and widely distributed. The gray linnet 

 (Linota cannabina) and the green linnet (C. chloris) were both common and widely 

 distributed, but the former was not so numerous as I had been led to expect from the 

 nature of the ground. The sparrow (Passer domesticus) , about towns and villages, but 

 not so common about the homesteads as in better cultivated districts. The wood-pi- 

 geon (Columba Palmnbus), common and widely dispersed, occurs even in valleys where 

 the cultivation is limited. 



The partridge (Perdix cinerea), pretty common in cultivated fields. The blackcock 

 (Tetrao Tetrix), common in rough ground of moderate elevation. The red grouse 

 (Lagopus scoticus), common on the moors. The golden plover (Charadrius pluvialis) is 

 also common, and so is the lapwing. It was surprising that not a curlew was seen, 

 either on the shores of the Atlantic or German Ocean, or in the wilds of the interior, 

 where they resort to breed. The pleasant little common sandpiper (Totanus hypoleu- 

 cos) enlivens the banks of almost every lake and large stream with his peevish call- 

 note. A few snipes (Scolopax Gallinago) were found on the moors, and the crake 

 (Crex pratensis) was heard in the corn-lands. The gallinule (Gallinula chloropus) was 

 scarce, and the coot (Fulica atra) was only seen at the embouchure of the Urquhart 

 into Loch Ness. The stately heron (Ardea cinerea) lent a charm to many a moorland 

 and river scene. Very few mallards were seen about the moorland lochs where they 

 breed. 



I observed a large pull, which I took to be the lesser black-backed (Larus fuscus) 

 or the herring gull (L. argcntatus), fishing in Loch Lochy ; both species were seen 

 on the east and west coasts. The black-headed gull (L. ridibundus) was the only 

 other species observed ; it was both abundant and widely distributed. 



1 shall now endeavour to enliven these details by a few notes on the habits of the 



