302 



BIRDS. 



records of this species are insufficient. Edward says, ' Very rarely 

 found in this quarter ' ; and Dr. J. 0. Wilson quotes a possible 

 occurrence at second hand.] 



Emberiza schoeniclus, L. Reed Bunting. 



Local Names. — Moss Sparrow, Eing Fowl (J. 0. W.). 



North of the Great Glen this species is widely distributed, local, but 

 not abundant, except perhaps in a few favoured localities, such as 

 the marsh at the foot of Glen Urquhart. A pair is occasionally 

 seen in very out-of-the-way places, as, for instance, on an island in 

 a far-away moor loch. The point of land that runs out and forms 

 the division between Badenloch and Loch-na-Clar is an instance of 

 this; here there are one or two pairs to be seen making their nests 

 among the long heather. 



In our more southern districts the species is resident and local ; 

 not very abundant even on the lower reaches of the valleys ; rarer 

 as one ascends the streams. "We did not meet with it above Bel- 

 dornie — i.e. not at all in Upper Deveron. But at even greater 

 eleA^ations we have met with it commonly, if not abundantly, as, 

 for instance, as high as 1200 feet at the watersheds of Nairn and 

 Findhorn, and sparingly in the higher-lying meadows along the 

 Spey, in Badenoch, and at Dalwhinnie and Tomintoul. It fre- 

 quents marshy river-banks, perching on willows, reeds, sedges, and 

 other aquatic plants. About three pairs are known about Dal- 

 whinnie ; and once we met with it at the extreme west end of Loch 

 Errochd. Evans only met with it at Dalwhinnie in August 1889, 

 but it also occurs there in June and July (Backhouse). It is 

 partially migratory, or shifts its ground as the season advances, 

 and draws down often near the coast-lines in winter. 



Plectrophenax nivalis (i.). Snow Bunting. 



Local Names. — Gualach, Ghallic ; (in the Carn district) Snaw-fleck 

 (Keith, Grigor), North Cock or Cock of the North — a name also 

 applied to the Brambling. 



Records by previous authors of the presence of this species among 

 the Cairngorms date back as far as we have materials, and so 

 numerous have become the reports which have reached us of late 

 years of birds, old and young, having been seen in midsummer by 



