BIRDS. 279 I 



as high up as Dalwhinnie in June. Although not noted at Tomin- | 

 toul in April or May, numerous localities are given on Avon, I 

 Fiddich, Feshie, and Tromie. ; 



In 1893 we found small colonies as far up as Ardwell in the ; 

 Lower Cabrach valley, where, however, we had not noticed them 

 before, and they were again seen at the same places in 1894. An i 

 immense colony frequents the Red Brae of Lower Findhorn — 

 i.e. in steep sandy and clayey cliffs about 2J miles from Forres. , 

 They occur in myriads about Tomatin on Upper Findhorn in July, 

 and are abundant on Dulnan. They abound all along Speyside in 

 the red sandstone scarps capped with gravel and sand, and in 

 the river banks lower down, where there is a fine colony near 

 Fochabers Bridge. 



We find our earliest record of their spring arrival — viz., 14th 

 March 1880 — given by Mr. Norman, in the Fauna of Moray. 

 Brown of Forres says: — 'Very abundant about Forres, arriving 

 sooner and departing rather sooner than the Swallow and Martin. 

 Other dates of arrival vary a good deal, but April 23rd is about ' 

 the average date in ordinary seasons.' 1 



Mr. Lee informs us that he found a very large colony of these J 

 birds breeding near Forres. He counted 823 inhabited holes, 

 mostly with young. Below the nests were thousands of moths , 

 and butterflies' wings, and also bees' wings. ' I watched one hole, 

 and, as far as I saw in the short time I was there, the birds visit 

 the hole twice each in a minute, sometimes only once, and 

 sometimes three times' (0. A. J. Lee, 8/viii/87). 



Family FRINGILLIDiE. 



Sub-family FRINGILLIN^. 

 Carduelis elegans, ^/ep^. Goldfinch. ^ 

 This beautiful bird is probably extinct in the northern portion of our \ 

 area. All our old records point to its being a common species at j 

 one time, but that was certainly previous to the last thirty j 

 years. ^ 

 We have very few records from Sutherland. St. John saw it ] 

 there, and in his book on Morayshire he says that, though it 

 was nearly extinct it was common on the opposite shores of 

 Ro3s-shire and Sutherland. It used to breed about Dunrobin and 



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