BIRDS. 



235 



appear to be local farther north, the lower reaches of the Brora 



and Lothbeg being places where it is known to breed. 



The O.S.A. is silent. Edward speaks of it as 'more numerous 

 than the Sedge AYarbler or Blackcap ' (Banffshire). It occurs in 

 Smith's lists, and there is a specimen in the Banff Museum. 



South of Inverness the species is not common, and somewhat 

 local, scattered localities being the Laigh of Moray and the Main 

 wood near Elgin (Fauna of Moray). In I8S5 J. Backhouse records 

 having seen it at Dalwhinnie, about June 26th, in the young 

 plantation of larch and pine trees near the hotel. It is rare, and 

 has only once been seen by Hinxman, near Aberlour, during three 

 years' observations. In a very likely spot, a steep *brae' over- 

 looking the bed of the Upper Deveron, opposite the meal-mill at 

 Lesmurdie, in June 1892, we saw either two or three pairs. 



We once observed it on the Xethy in Strathspey (1892), where 

 it appeared to be recognised, but only as a scarce species, by the 

 local gamekeepers. The bird in question sat close to where a 

 keeper and Harvie-Brown were watching a Crested Tit's nest 

 which contained young, in May 1892. Mr. Stuart, who has a 

 small collection of eggs, made by himself in Abernethy, marks it 

 as not uncommon.^ It is included in a list made at Delnashaugh 

 in Glen Avon by two anglers who resided there in April and May 

 1892, as reported by the late Dr. Gordon. 



Nowhere can we say we have ever found it abundant in Strath- 

 spey, but we cannot but believe that there are localities nearer 

 to Inverness, along the Moray Firth, where it is more numerous. 

 We find Mr. Martin, late Curator of the Elgin Museum, spoke of 

 it as found as long ago as the summer of 1844, near that place. 

 In 1893 we saw several in a clearing in Abernethy Forest in April 

 — an early date — near Braenewton (pronounced Braenettin)^ and it 

 appears to be on the increase. 



In May 1893 we found the Whitethroat very abundant on 

 Lower Deveron around Drachlaw Farm and Netherdale, where, with 

 a friend, we were fishing. Many nests were seen. Nowhere else 

 Avithin our area have we ever seen them so abundant and clamorous, 

 although from observations made later in the year— August — we 

 believe they are nearly or quite as abundant around the mouths 



I Mr. Stuart, son of the head forester under Mr. James Grant Thomson, who is 

 wood manager on the Countess of Seafield's Strathspey estates. 



