268 



BIRDS. 



Tree Pipit north of the forest of Glenmore, where, in 1869, he 

 found numbers breeding. 



St. John does not mention this species at all. 

 Edward says, ' frequently seen,' and breeds near Inverkeith- 

 ney, Eothiemay, and Inveravon, but it is not represented in the 

 Banff Museum, nor does Rev. J. Smith mention it. Dr. J. 0. 

 Wilson obtained a nest and eggs in 'The Plantin',' near the 

 Meadow Well at Huntly, and Harvie-Brown saw the eggs. We 

 met with it at Aberlour on Spey in 1885, and Mr. J. Young 

 saw it near Forres in the same summer. Hinxman describes it as 

 * not common ; local.' The Tree Pipit occurs in Abernethy Forest, 

 where Stewart of Grantown has obtained eggs, which we saw in 

 1892 — the red variety. William Evans once saw it at Kinrara 

 on Spey (Sth August 1889), possibly on migration, and Mr. J. 

 Backhouse found one crushed into a joint between two rails on the 

 railroad near Dalwhinnie. The skull and claw were hanging out 

 uninjured, by which he identified the bird. 



Now, a more unlikely localit}^ for the Tree Pipit than Dalwhinnie 

 could hardly be imagined. Certainly, if they occur there at all, it 

 can only be on migration, and we know past Dalwhinnie is a highway 

 of migrants. Gray says vaguely : — ' On the east coast this Pipit 

 seems equally dispersed over the sea-board counties from Berwick 

 to Banffshire' (1871). 



Mr. Rose of Holm-Rose considers it to be a decreasing species. 

 Booth found these birds abundant in the pine forests of Spey. 

 Previous to 1893 a most careful search on our part never disclosed 

 a single bird in the pine woods, and indeed we should hardly 

 expect to find them actually frequenting pine woods, — though 

 where hardwoods or clearings occur, one might expect to meet 

 with them. But so in 1893 it appeared abundantly, or at least 

 much more conspicuously than during our experiences in past 

 seasons over all the clearings in Rothiemurchus and Abernethy 

 forests; and more than one pair were seen at Drachlaw and Nether- 

 dale in May. It was also observed far up the Spey by Colonel 

 Duthie, by William Evans, and was reported by other correspon- 

 dents. It had not, we fully believe, been so commonl}^ observed in 

 our present area before. Indeed, this season seems, with its pheno- 

 menal heat, and drought, and earliness, to have heralded a con- 

 siderable increase in many species. Hinxman found one pair 



