﻿BIRDS. 
  

  

  25 
  

  

  some 
  one 
  year 
  or 
  another. 
  What 
  principally 
  concerns 
  us 
  is 
  about 
  

   what 
  time 
  these 
  birds 
  became 
  extinct 
  as 
  a 
  resident 
  and 
  breeding 
  

   species, 
  and 
  the 
  causes 
  that 
  led 
  to 
  this. 
  

  

  The 
  date 
  of 
  their 
  extinction 
  seems 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  somewhere 
  in 
  

   the 
  fifties, 
  and 
  they 
  must 
  have 
  begun 
  to 
  decrease 
  rapidly 
  before 
  

   then. 
  In 
  some 
  notes 
  lent 
  us 
  by 
  Mr. 
  Muirhead, 
  written 
  in 
  1867, 
  

   he 
  relates 
  that 
  ' 
  Mr. 
  Stewart 
  (the 
  head 
  keeper 
  at 
  Balmacaan) 
  

   tells 
  me 
  that 
  long 
  ago 
  there 
  used 
  to 
  be 
  Woodpeckers 
  (the 
  Great 
  

   Spotted) 
  found 
  in 
  the 
  natural 
  woods 
  on 
  the 
  banks 
  of 
  the 
  loch 
  

   (Ness) 
  about 
  Ruskich, 
  and 
  that 
  their 
  nests 
  were 
  sometimes 
  got. 
  

   This 
  I 
  have 
  frequently 
  heard 
  from 
  people 
  who 
  have 
  been 
  long 
  

   in 
  the 
  glen 
  (Urquhart).' 
  Further, 
  Mr. 
  Muirhead 
  says 
  that 
  

   * 
  M'Dougall's 
  boy 
  told 
  me 
  he 
  had 
  seen 
  a 
  Woodpecker 
  at 
  Ruskich 
  

   to-day,' 
  July 
  6th, 
  1867. 
  1 
  

  

  An 
  old 
  keeper, 
  Donald 
  Gillies, 
  who 
  was 
  born 
  in 
  Glengarry, 
  

   tells 
  us 
  that 
  in 
  his 
  young 
  days 
  Woodpeckers 
  were 
  quite 
  common, 
  

   and 
  could 
  be 
  heard 
  tapping 
  when 
  going 
  through 
  the 
  woods 
  or 
  

   along 
  the 
  road, 
  and 
  their 
  holes 
  were 
  plentiful 
  in 
  the 
  old 
  firs. 
  The 
  

   old 
  people 
  then 
  also 
  told 
  him 
  they 
  were 
  even 
  commoner 
  at 
  a 
  still 
  

   earlier 
  date. 
  However, 
  the 
  usual 
  fate 
  befell 
  all 
  the 
  old 
  trees 
  and 
  

   large 
  timber, 
  and 
  this 
  cutting 
  down 
  drove 
  all 
  the 
  birds 
  away. 
  

   Donald 
  Gillies 
  is 
  now 
  (1893) 
  an 
  old 
  man 
  of 
  seventy 
  or 
  more, 
  and 
  

   he 
  says 
  it 
  would 
  be 
  forty 
  or 
  fifty 
  years 
  ago 
  since 
  he 
  remembers 
  

   seeing 
  and 
  hearing 
  the 
  Woodpeckers. 
  

  

  But 
  it 
  is 
  to 
  the 
  late 
  Lord 
  Tweedmouth 
  that 
  we 
  are 
  indebted 
  

   for 
  most 
  of 
  our 
  notes 
  on 
  this 
  bird 
  north 
  of 
  the 
  Ness. 
  In 
  the 
  

   district 
  of 
  Guisachan, 
  his 
  Lordship's 
  place 
  at 
  the 
  head 
  of 
  one 
  

   of 
  the 
  branches 
  of 
  Strathglass, 
  the 
  Woodpecker 
  was 
  a 
  common 
  

   species. 
  Hugh 
  Fraser, 
  an 
  old 
  man 
  on 
  the 
  property, 
  told 
  him 
  

   it 
  was 
  a 
  favourite 
  cage-bird, 
  and 
  that 
  the 
  priest 
  at 
  Glassburn, 
  

  

  i 
  We 
  almost 
  invariably 
  find 
  from 
  our 
  inquiries 
  in 
  Speyside 
  that 
  1 
  boys 
  ' 
  call 
  

   Creepers 
  1 
  Woodpeckers,' 
  but 
  that 
  old 
  residents, 
  who 
  were 
  accustomed 
  to 
  see 
  true 
  

   Woodpeckers, 
  as 
  certainly 
  spoke 
  of 
  the 
  real 
  object 
  of 
  our 
  inquiry. 
  Confusion 
  

   between 
  Woodpecker 
  and 
  Creeper 
  may 
  have 
  originated 
  possibly 
  in 
  the 
  Gaelic 
  

   names. 
  Sn&g 
  is 
  Gaelic 
  for 
  Woodpecker, 
  and 
  means 
  a 
  tap 
  or 
  little 
  audible 
  knock 
  

   {fide. 
  Macdonald). 
  Sndigear 
  is 
  Gaelic 
  for 
  Creeper, 
  from 
  .tndig, 
  to 
  creep 
  or 
  crawl 
  

   (auct. 
  Rev. 
  W. 
  Forsyth, 
  D.D., 
  Abernethy, 
  in 
  lit. 
  March 
  11th, 
  1892). 
  As 
  resulting 
  

   from 
  much 
  later 
  inquiry 
  in 
  Glen 
  Urquhart, 
  we 
  find 
  the 
  confusion 
  perpetuated, 
  an 
  

   educated 
  correspondent 
  designating 
  the 
  bird 
  inquired 
  about 
  as 
  ' 
  The 
  Great 
  Spotted 
  

   Woodpecker 
  or 
  Snaiyear.' 
  

  

  