262 



BIRDS. 



In the nest of one near Invergarry, Murdoch Matheson found 

 a small silver ring, which appropriation seems less like the freak 

 of a Wren than of a Jackdaw. 



South of Inverness the Wren is perhaps most abundant in 

 juniper tracts, but it is common everywhere, even far above the 

 highest straggling birches, and even in places above the growth of 

 heather. It is prominent far up among the trickling source-streams 

 and among the screes and stony scaurs of the Carn district, down to 

 the coast-line, where it appears slightly more abundant in winter, 

 often feeding amongst washed-up tangle, and sheltering in the 

 deep crevices of rocks, and the dens which cut down to the pre- 

 cipitous coast around Gamrie Head and along the north coast of 

 Aberdeenshire in the eastern part of our area, and the same 

 remarks as to its general abundance hold good over nearly the 

 whole watershed and drainage system. 



Mr. J. Backhouse writes : — ' In Allt-an't-Sluie valley I saw a 

 very fine specimen — very large and well marked. Probably had I 

 been able to ' collect ' it, it might have turned out to be T. horealis 

 or T. hirtensisf, but unfortunately I did not prove it.' 



On the 1st August 1887 the gamekeeper at Blairs Castle shot 

 a white Wren, but it was too much shattered for preserving. This 

 was the only one of that colour he had ever seen. 



Family OERTHIIDjE. 

 Certhia familiaris, L. Creeper. 



Local Name. — Woodpecker. ^ 



The Creeper is a widely distributed, though not very abundant 

 species, being found as far up the glens and straths as there are 

 trees of sufficient size to afford it feeding-ground. From Inver- 

 garry it is reported as occurring ' in numbers ' from notes sent us 

 by Mr. Malcolm,^ and it is common throughout the whole of our 



^ N.B. — We have carefully considered this confusing cognomen, and have not 

 allowed ourselves to be led astray by it during our researches into the past history 

 of the true Picus major— the Great Spotted Woodpecker, q.v. Though erroneously 

 called ' Woodpecker,' the name is only applied to it by the younger generation, and 

 we have hardly ever found old people confusing the two species. 



2 Son of Mr. Malcolm, factor for Invergarry. 



