5118 Birds. 



of the Moray Firth, between the counties of Aberdeen and Moray ; 

 from the former of which it is separated, with a few trifling excep- 

 tions, by the river Deneran, and from the latter by the river Spey. 

 On the shore it is about forty miles in extent, and it reaches sixty or 

 seventy miles inland, gradually narrowing as it recedes from the 

 coast. Although several spots are yet in a half-wild state, still, as a 

 whole, the county is generally under cultivation, and that of the 

 highest order; and yields, together with the two counties already 

 mentioned, the very finest grain, — a fact well known to the corn- 

 dealers of London, to which place large quantities are exported, and 

 fetch the very highest price. A few morasses are left, but these are 

 fast disappearing. Draining and other improvements are continually 

 in progress, and our hills in many places are beginning to assume the 

 appearance of verdant fields ; places where the moss, the heather and 

 the bracken were lately the only plants, and where the wail of the plo- 

 ver, the birr of the muir-cock, and the scream of the merlin were the 

 only sounds, are now enlivened by the mellow voice of the lark as 

 she wings her heavenward way, or rises before you as you tread the 

 well-cultivated soil. Of lakes or lochs we have very few ; so that 

 my list, as regards the larger waterfowl, is very scanty ; for, although 

 great numbers of them are annually seen on their migrations, few 

 descend to seek rest or food within the district, and scarcely any 

 remain with us. 



We have some woods and a few smaller plantations, both luxriant 

 and verdant ; but of hedgerows we are almost entirely destitute. We 

 have most beautiful valleys, intersected with rich meadows and pas- 

 ture-lands, well stocked with cattle of the choicest breeds. The two 

 rivers already mentioned, together with a few smaller streams, such 

 as the Burn of the Boyne, the Burn of Portsay, and the Burn of Cul- 

 len, constitute the whole of our fresh-water courses. Of hills we 

 boast a few : these are distributed over the county, and Ben-Vennis 

 is the highest. 



Our sea-coast, with very little exception, is rocky, and in some 

 places is bold, high and rather precipitous ; for instance, at Troup- 

 head, Gamrie-head or Moir, and Loggie-head. Other parts, however, 

 although rocky, are comparatively low and Hat, and in many places 

 are approached by sloping and grassy braes. The greater portion of 

 our low-lying rocks and beaches are laid under water twice in the 

 clay ; so that the shore-birds which frequent such situations have to 

 retire at each tide. We have no mud-flats or salt-marshes, and our 

 sands are very limited in extent. 



