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38 A VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF THE MORAY BASIN. j 



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from ?) A single Peregrine Falcon passed over the boat about two ' 



hundred yards off, going up to the cliff; it appeared to be an '< 



adult female. Mr. Millais doubts if the species breeds there, as ; 



a local man he took from the shore, who knew the cliffs well, ! 



said he had not known of their breeding there for some years past. i 



No Eavens were seen, nor could Mr. Millais hear of their having ^ 



been seen there for a length of time. \ 



The Great Black-backed Gull was evidently breeding in fair 

 numbers on the tops of the isolated pinnacles, but their nests are 

 extremely difficult to get at. Mr. Millais was four hours on one 

 pinnacle before he could get down. 



The Herring Gull is the bird of the Sutor. It breeds in 1 



immense numbers, and from one small stack a cart-load of 1 



their eggs might have been taken, but the cliffs are dangerous to ! 

 descend, though the ascent here and there is comparatively easy. 



Guillemots and Eazorbills were in scattered numbers. . 



Towards Team ^ and Nigg, which lie about the centre of the i 



depression between the inward range of hills and those of the : 



coast-line, the ground would appear to have been reclaimed and j 



drained from a former state of bog and marsh, and at the present | 



time no finer arable ground can be found in Scotland, as may j 

 be seen from the splendid wheat and other crops requiring heavy 

 soil which are grown there. Evidences of this marshy character 

 are to be found in a few small bogs, and the sedges (?) which are to 



be seen growing in the ditches through the fields ; and here is one * 



of the few places where the true bulrush is to be found in the j 



north. Half a century ago magnificent wildfowl-shooting could \ 

 be had here on stormy days, when the birds were driven between 



the Dornoch and Cromarty Firths by stress of weather ; now they ; 



have been taught by sad experience to keep out of range, but still « 



there is good flighting at times about the Hill of Fearn, a small « 



rise in this otherwise very flat extent. Very good Partridge- ! 



shooting might be got were the whole country well preserved, and ' 



the Hares hereabouts are noted for their size. j 



Although there are a few burns and lochs in this district, yet 



want of water is a great drawback, and, from the flat character of ■ 



1 Not to be confounded with Fearn in the Dornoch Firth, near Ardgay. j 



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