BIRDS. 



275 



of Kintradwell, and others were found near Tain about the same 

 time. 



No suitable place appears to have been found by it in these 

 counties for breeding purposes ; but the Great Glen, which would 

 appear to be another of its migrational routes, afforded it such a 

 site, for Hargitt ^ had eggs from Drumnadrochit, in Glen Urquhart, 

 as far back as 1864. 



But the species does not seem to have permanently taken up 

 its abode here, for such a conspicuous species would surely have 

 attracted the attention of other wandering naturalists, such as 

 Muirhead or Mr. A. Craig. Anyhow, it was not until nearly thirty 

 years after, that we received information of such a bird being seen 

 in another locality, and that it had even bred there. On our 

 making inquiries on the spot, we were shown an egg that had been 

 taken by a correspondent, who described the bird to us, and also 

 stated that it bred in a hole in a birch-tree. The next season the 

 birds did not appear, at least at the old site ; in 1894 we received 

 the eggs, four in number, and a note from our former correspon- 

 dent saying that the nest was built in a birch-tree about ten feet 

 from the ground ; it was composed of moss and lichens and with a 

 little cow's hair, and was in the same place as the previous nest. 



The first year the birds were seen there was in 1890, but in 

 1893 they did not nest, though they did so in 1891. 



Family HIRUNDINID-S. 

 Hirundo rustica, X. Swallow. 



Though widely distributed, the Swallow is by no means a common 

 bird, only a pair here and there being found as a rule. They are 

 perhaps more common about the cultivated area of the east of 

 Ross-shire than elsewhere in the northern part of our area, probably 

 on account of the greater abundance of open sheds, on the beams 

 of which they delight to build. Hepburn met with the three 

 species of Swallows in 1847, and remarked that they were 

 generally distributed. They occur at Invergarry. 



We once observed a pair of Swallows building in a shed near 

 Scotsbum in the east of Ross-shire, and we made the following 

 notes : — The nest was begun on August Ist. By the 6th it was 

 1 Edward Hargitt, R.L, M.B.O.U., died March 19th, 1895. 



