74 



BIRDS. 



abundant," but, testing this, I ascertained from another source that 

 just four pairs, or about that number, occupy the policy grounds of 

 Scone Palace, where there appears to be abundant accommodation 

 for the usual habits of the species. 



Mr. Charles Macpherson also, after carefully considering my 

 question as to population of the Redstart about Dunkeld, put their 

 numbers there at about three or four pairs ; and in a list sent me 

 later of the birds observed in Strathbraan during a walk of 2-| miles 

 upon the south side and If miles on the north side on the 6th June 

 1905, he mentions one Redstart. Mr. Charles Macpherson in this list 

 enumerates twenty-six species, and adds the numbers seen of each.^ 



I have always been accustomed to consider that the relative 

 populations of this species in different districts may well be gauged 

 by the question, "How many, for instance, would yon meet mth in 

 a Highland glen, by the roadside, in suitable quarters, within, say, 

 five miles "? " In Moray I have myself seen about an average of one 

 pair to every 100 or 200 yards of the shore of Loch Ness, and about 

 the same along the public roads, which, as is known, follow the loch- 

 side pretty closely. Again, in Ardnamurchan they were equally 

 conspicuous, if not quite so abundant. But in Tay, during the 

 whole of the time spent in driving over the roads and up and down 

 the glens of Perthshire, Forfarshire, and at Auchenblae and Ethie, 

 where there were any amount of suitable haunts, the total observed 

 did not exceed some six male birds and one female. Of course some 

 other season more might be met with. 



Around Guthrie the Redstart appears upon the edges of the small 

 moors, such as Monteathmont, where as many as three males may 

 be heard singing on' an evening of early June. "But," says Mr. 

 M'Connochie, " though common on the moors, very rare in the 

 country around, though the woods seem to hold suitable localities ; 

 and although this moor bounds Guthrie parish on a great part of two 

 sides, I have never seen one in the parish itself." 



Mr. Milne, whilst keeping my information up to date, writes me 

 that in the summer of 1905 one pair of Redstarts only had appeared 

 in Drumtochty Glen or in the immediate neighbourhood of Auchenblae 

 {in lit., 21st July). 



By 1905 there appears to have been but small increase, if any, in 

 the north-east of Fife, according to Mr. Berwick and others. 



^ Charles Macpherson, ex-post-runner in Strathbraan, an excellent bird-observer, 

 well acquainted with his native glen, who resides at Inver, Dunkeld, and whose name 

 will be found mentioned in several other places in this volume. 



