228 



BIRDS. 



increasing; perhaps the old birch woods in which it so much 

 delights in the far north are already sufficiently populated. It is 

 irregular in its appearance; not one was seen about Brora in 1890 

 or 1892, as our correspondent Mr. Baillie informs us. Mr. 

 Jennings said that in the neighbourhood of Tain they were rare ; 

 he only observed them in one year, 1885 or 1886, when two pairs 

 nested near there, and both nests were found. 



Although a widely distributed summer species, the Eedstart is 

 rather local, and not particularly abundant in the neighbourhood of 

 Inverness, as the late Dr. Aitken ^ informed us, and this is our 

 opinion also. It is common around Invergarry and Glen AfFric. 

 As early as 1847 Hepburn observed the Eedstart about Loch 

 Bennavian, in Strath Glass, probably the first record of its occur- 

 rence from there. Mr. Doncaster says it is very abundant in 

 lower Glen Cannich. At Achnagairn, near Beauly, Major Cameron 

 informed us that Redstarts were once common there, but that now 

 they are scarce. 



When St. John wrote his Natural History of Moray he con- 

 sidered the Redstart a rare bird (1844-52). Now it is, if not 

 actually abundant, at least widely distributed through the whole 

 of our area, going far up the wild glens wherever old birch-trees 

 exist, or the locality is otherwise suitable. 



Whilst apparently not yet increasing to the north of Inver- 

 ness, it has been rapidly spreading in the southern portion of late 

 years, and apparently coming in great 'waves.' 



In 1844 — as we are told in Dr. Gordon's Fauna of Moray^ — 'An 

 interesting addition is made to our Fauna by Mr. Foljambe, who 

 observed it remaining throughout the summers of 1834-5 and 1838, 

 at Grant Lodge near Elgin, where it annually brought out its 

 young.' Dr. Gordon then adds : — ' It is not known to have been 

 met with elsewhere in Scotland north of the Grampians. Dum- 



^ Dr. Aitken, manager of the Inverness District Asylum, who made the remarks 

 in a paper read before the Inverness Field Club, died in 1892. 



2 We quote often the later edition of the Fauna of Moray, but desire to say here 

 that it had been set up in type without the late Dr. Gordon hearing of it at the time, 

 and consequently it is not so full or correct as it otherwise would have been. We 

 have, when quoting it, however, in all important cases had the records verified by 

 correspondence with Dr. Gordon. It had been lent for the purpose of another 

 local paper, and had been put in type and printed off without a final revise by the 

 author. 



