PREFACE. xi 



Stuart in consequence of their peculiar idiosyncrasies 

 with regard to other matters, but we are ourselves of the 

 opinion that their self-evident correctness and general 

 enthusiasm for sport, and for the pursuits of gentlemen 

 of that day, entitle their work to credit. Work in such 

 directions is honest and above-board, and should in 

 common fairness be so accepted. 



Although so much was, and is, being done for Moray 

 south of the Ness, yet when we cross to the north of 

 that line the number of observers has been very small, 

 and remains so to the present time. There are some 

 scattered papers in the Zoologist, those of which relating 

 to Sutherland have already been mentioned in our former 

 volume on that area, and others relating to Ross-shii-e 

 and Inverness-shire we refer to in the present. One or 

 two are also to be found in the Proceedings of the Royal 

 Physical Society of Edinburgh, and in the Natural History 

 Society of Glasgow, Even St. John passes by nearly the 

 whole of this portion of our area in silence, with the 

 well-known exception of that part referred to in his 

 Tour in Sutherland. A few facts may be culled from 

 Booth s Rough Notes and the Catalogue of his Museum. 

 But we think the most striking proof of sterility in 

 this connection is, that in the three volumes of the 



