248 



BIRDS. 



woods above Loch Coulter, between Dalwhinnie and Laggan, at an 

 elevation of about 1600 feet. This was in June, but the birds 

 were not seen. 



Mr. Stewart of Grantown reckons it rarer in Abernethy than the 

 Crested Tit, and is seldom seen far from birch-trees in the nesting 

 season. We perfectly indorse this opinion from our own observa- 

 tions. In Badenoch, family parties have been met with by Mr. 

 Charles H. Alston in 1890, and also were seen in company with 

 Blue and Cole Tits. We found it also at Loch Meiklie and in the 

 Great Glen in June 1895. 



Parus major, L. Great Tit. 



Local Name. — Oxee {i.e. Ox-eye). 



Our present area contains the northernmost breeding range of the 

 Great Tit in the British Isles at the present time. It occurs as 

 far north as Fairburn, near Muir of Ord (Capt. Stirling i), but is 

 certainly not an abundant species north of the Ness. Hepburn 

 recorded it as scarce in the woods of the northern districts of 

 Inverness-shire (1847), but Mr. A. Craig says it is fairly abundant 

 in the woods of Glen Urquhart. We have seen it at Invergarry, 

 but not at Guisachan. Mr. Don caster observed it in Strath Glass 

 in 1891. St. John also remarks that the Great Tit is one of the 

 less common species of Tits in the vicinity of Forres. 



South of Inverness this species is neither very general nor very 

 abundant. It is included in local lists on Deveron as far up as 

 Huntly. We have never found it in numbers to compare with 

 Cole and Blue Tits anywhere in the area. Once only did we find 

 it on Middle Deveron. Dr. J. 0. Wilson of Huntly correctly 

 describes its distribution thus — 'Pretty common, but more soli- 

 tary than the other Tits'; he 'has an impression that it is more 

 abundant of late years.' It is commoner upon the lower reaches 

 of Spey than on the Deveron. 



It is of sufficiently local (ascertained) distribution to warrant 

 details. It was observed at Aberlour on Spey, but not very 

 abundantly about Dalnashaugh on Avon in spring ; seen also in Glen 

 Fiddich below Dufftown; noted at Forres (J. Young) in 1885; 

 observed at Tomatin on the Findhorn, July 1891 ; and it is noted 



^ Capt. W. Stirling, younger of Fairburn, Muir of Ord. 



