﻿60 
  

  

  BIRDS. 
  

  

  Accipiter 
  nisus 
  (£.). 
  Sparrow 
  Hawk. 
  

  

  Abundant 
  and 
  resident, 
  probably 
  even 
  increasing 
  with 
  the 
  

   great 
  amount 
  of 
  lately 
  planted 
  area. 
  In 
  1884, 
  sixty-one 
  hawks 
  

   were 
  killed 
  on 
  the 
  Invergarry 
  estate, 
  and 
  these 
  were 
  principally 
  

   Sparrow 
  Hawks. 
  We 
  have 
  notes 
  of 
  this 
  species 
  from 
  many 
  parts 
  

   of 
  our 
  present 
  area, 
  even 
  from 
  Dalwhinnie, 
  where 
  it 
  was 
  noticed 
  

   several 
  times 
  by 
  Mr. 
  Backhouse 
  in 
  the 
  summer 
  of 
  1885. 
  The 
  

   Sparrow 
  Hawk 
  generally 
  leaves 
  the 
  higher 
  straths 
  in 
  the 
  winter 
  

   for 
  the 
  more 
  cultivated 
  districts, 
  but 
  it 
  sometimes 
  remains 
  in 
  the 
  

   upper 
  and 
  barer 
  valleys, 
  as 
  we 
  have 
  a 
  note 
  of 
  one 
  killed 
  in 
  Strath- 
  

   conon 
  in 
  January 
  1865. 
  

  

  At 
  times 
  a 
  Sparrow 
  Hawk 
  becomes 
  very 
  destructive 
  to 
  poultry- 
  

   yards. 
  At 
  Abernethy 
  Manse, 
  as 
  we 
  are 
  assured 
  by 
  Eev. 
  Wm. 
  

   Forsyth, 
  one 
  of 
  these 
  birds 
  killed 
  two 
  dozen 
  chickens. 
  It 
  is 
  

   common 
  about 
  the 
  mixed 
  hardwoods 
  of 
  the 
  Findhorn, 
  and 
  around 
  

   Forres 
  ; 
  but 
  is 
  not 
  reckoned 
  so 
  common 
  as 
  the 
  Kestrel 
  along 
  Spey- 
  

   side 
  generally. 
  We 
  have 
  obtained 
  the 
  eggs 
  at 
  Corniehaugh 
  and 
  

   Netherdale, 
  on 
  the 
  Lower 
  Deveron 
  (1891). 
  

  

  Milvus 
  ictinus, 
  Savigny. 
  Kite. 
  

  

  At 
  one 
  time 
  Kites 
  were 
  very 
  common 
  throughout 
  our 
  area, 
  though 
  

   this 
  is 
  learned 
  more 
  from 
  tradition 
  than 
  by 
  actual 
  records 
  that 
  

   have 
  been 
  kept. 
  The 
  one 
  record, 
  however, 
  quoted 
  by 
  Knox 
  

   in 
  his 
  Game 
  Birds 
  and 
  Wild 
  Fowl, 
  is 
  sufficient 
  to 
  show 
  that 
  in 
  

   this 
  case 
  tradition 
  was 
  trustworthy. 
  The 
  statement 
  is 
  that 
  be- 
  

   tween 
  the 
  years 
  1837 
  and 
  1840, 
  275 
  Kites 
  were 
  killed 
  on 
  the 
  

   Glengarry 
  property. 
  Probably 
  their 
  last 
  breeding-place 
  there 
  

   was 
  on 
  a 
  rock 
  close 
  to 
  where 
  the 
  Garry 
  river 
  flows 
  out 
  of 
  Loch 
  

   Garry. 
  An 
  old 
  keeper, 
  Donald 
  Gillies, 
  who 
  was 
  born 
  in 
  that 
  

   district, 
  informed 
  us 
  that 
  he 
  had 
  taken 
  the 
  nest 
  there, 
  though 
  he 
  

   could 
  not 
  remember 
  the 
  date. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  neighbourhood 
  of 
  Glen 
  Urquhart, 
  a 
  pair, 
  the 
  last 
  known 
  

   to 
  have 
  occurred 
  in 
  that 
  district, 
  were 
  killed 
  while 
  nesting 
  in 
  the 
  

   Balmacaan 
  woods, 
  1865, 
  and 
  are 
  now 
  preserved 
  in 
  Balmacaan 
  

   House 
  (A. 
  Craig). 
  

  

  Thirty 
  years 
  ago, 
  or 
  thereabouts, 
  the 
  Kite 
  was 
  very 
  abundant 
  

   in 
  the 
  neighbourhood 
  of 
  Guisachan, 
  and 
  used 
  to 
  carry 
  off 
  the 
  fowls 
  

  

  