XVI 



PREFACE. 



this in the present volumes, by again giving a somewhat 

 curtailed sketch of the greater portion of Sutherlandshire, 

 which naturally belongs to ' Moray,' thus completing the 

 present area. ' West Ross and Skye ' is in good hands, 

 and may be expected to be completed before long. There 

 remains, thereafter, only Caithness and the north of 

 Sutherlandshire. This latter area includes all the water- 

 sheds of the rivers that flow into the sea between Cape 

 Wrath in the west to the Ord of Caithness in the east. 



Much of this, especially the Caithness portion, is 

 scenically most uninteresting, but the interest lies in the 

 naturalist's point of view, and we think it would well 

 repay further systematic investigation. For example, 

 three species of birds breed commonly there, which only 

 rarely, if at all as yet, ever do so in any portion of the 

 vast area of ' Moray.' These are, the Scoter, Tufted 

 Duck, and Richardson's Skua.^ 



Our present area is so vast that we have found it 

 impossible to compress all our information into one 

 volume — a fact we regret. But even now, as we have 



^ It has been suggested to us that the name * Sutherland,' as applied to an 

 area, is confusing, as the county of that name belongs to no less than three distinct 

 faunal areas ; and that in future, what has been called ' Sutherland ' in the past, 

 should have its designation changed to * Caithness.' Dr. Buchanan White's 

 areas, however, we consider had better remain intact, as regards their designations, 

 as only further confusion would be probably engendered by further change. 



