﻿64 
  

  

  BIRDS. 
  

  

  work 
  ? 
  May 
  the 
  vole-plague 
  ravage 
  the 
  lands 
  of 
  those 
  who 
  neglect 
  this 
  

   plain-featured 
  fact 
  ! 
  ' 
  

  

  That 
  it 
  formerly 
  bred 
  in 
  the 
  woods 
  of 
  Cawdor 
  Castle 
  we 
  

   have 
  the 
  word 
  of 
  Professor 
  MacGillivray 
  {Rapacious 
  Birds 
  of 
  

   Great 
  Britain, 
  1832). 
  Foljambe's 
  gamekeeper 
  shot 
  one 
  on 
  the 
  

   hill 
  near 
  Rothes 
  in 
  1838 
  (Fauna 
  of 
  Moray). 
  This 
  is 
  not 
  far 
  from 
  

   Elchies, 
  where, 
  as 
  will 
  presently 
  be 
  seen, 
  a 
  pair 
  was 
  observed 
  in 
  

   the 
  spring 
  of 
  1885. 
  Captain 
  Dunbar-Brander 
  certifies 
  to 
  its 
  

   numbers 
  • 
  when 
  he 
  was 
  a 
  youngster.' 
  £ 
  The 
  Gled/ 
  he 
  says, 
  ' 
  was 
  

   our 
  commonest 
  hawk, 
  but 
  I 
  have 
  not 
  seen 
  one 
  for 
  forty 
  years 
  ' 
  

   (i.e. 
  about 
  1848). 
  

  

  By 
  1845 
  — 
  the 
  date 
  of 
  the 
  New 
  Statistical 
  Account 
  — 
  the 
  Kite 
  is 
  

   stated 
  in 
  that 
  work 
  to 
  have 
  entirely 
  disappeared 
  from 
  the 
  parish 
  

   of 
  Forres. 
  

  

  The 
  Kite 
  is 
  an 
  extremely 
  rare 
  bird 
  now, 
  even 
  as 
  a 
  straggler, 
  in 
  

   our 
  present 
  district, 
  none 
  having 
  been 
  sent 
  in 
  to 
  Mr. 
  Macleay, 
  

   Inverness, 
  for 
  many 
  years 
  ; 
  in 
  fact, 
  only 
  two 
  are 
  entered 
  in 
  his 
  

   ledger 
  since 
  1850, 
  one 
  from 
  Carr 
  Bridge 
  in 
  April 
  1851, 
  the 
  

   other 
  from 
  Balmacaan 
  in 
  1856. 
  However, 
  two 
  Kites 
  were 
  seen 
  

   and 
  identified 
  by 
  Harvie-Brown, 
  soaring 
  over 
  the 
  woods 
  at 
  

   Wester 
  Elchies 
  in 
  the 
  spring 
  of 
  1885, 
  for 
  several 
  days 
  in 
  suc- 
  

   cession, 
  and 
  orders 
  were 
  given 
  not 
  to 
  disturb 
  them. 
  They 
  

   were 
  recognised 
  as 
  having 
  been 
  ' 
  very 
  plenty 
  ' 
  many 
  years 
  

   ago, 
  by 
  the 
  old 
  salmon-fisher, 
  Cruickshank, 
  1 
  whom 
  we 
  met 
  

   almost 
  daily, 
  when 
  he 
  was 
  fishing 
  the 
  Elchies 
  water 
  of 
  Spey, 
  

   near 
  Aberlour. 
  

  

  Now, 
  in 
  1892, 
  Harvie-Brown 
  being 
  anxious 
  to 
  visit 
  the 
  old 
  

   site 
  of 
  the 
  Kite's 
  nest 
  near 
  Grantown, 
  and 
  Lewis 
  Dunbar 
  being 
  

   equally 
  anxious 
  to 
  revisit 
  the 
  scenes 
  of 
  his 
  adventures 
  when 
  he 
  

   was 
  a 
  lad 
  of 
  about 
  sixteen 
  years 
  of 
  age, 
  they 
  together 
  made 
  a 
  

   special 
  journey 
  to 
  the 
  locality, 
  and 
  the 
  details 
  of 
  it 
  may 
  prove 
  

   of 
  some 
  interest. 
  Quoting 
  from 
  the 
  latter's 
  Journals, 
  partly 
  

   written 
  on 
  the 
  spot 
  : 
  — 
  1 
  Our 
  principal 
  object 
  in 
  this 
  visit 
  to 
  

   Grantown 
  was 
  to 
  find, 
  if 
  possible, 
  the 
  old 
  Kite's 
  tree. 
  But 
  the 
  

   search 
  was 
  vain. 
  In 
  the 
  hollow 
  below 
  the 
  Ladies' 
  Bridge, 
  wind 
  

   — 
  another 
  factor 
  of 
  destruction 
  — 
  had 
  during 
  the 
  past 
  forty-six 
  

   years 
  levelled 
  many 
  of 
  the 
  grand 
  two-hundred-year-old 
  pines, 
  and 
  

  

  1 
  Brother 
  of 
  the 
  Cruickshank 
  who 
  met 
  with 
  the 
  miserable 
  death 
  in 
  the 
  floods 
  of 
  

   1827, 
  as 
  related 
  by 
  Sir 
  Thomas 
  Dick 
  Lauder, 
  Bart. 
  

  

  