54 
NOTES ON BIRDS IN THE PARISHES OP METH- 
LICK, AND TARVES, ABERDEENSHIRE. 
By George Muirhead, F.R.S.E., F.Z.S., &c. 
THESE contiguous parishes are situate between fourteen and 
twenty-six miles north north-west of Aberdeen, and are 
about ten miles distant from the east coast of the county. Their 
united extent is about 31,000 acres — nearly all arable — and their 
altitude above the level of the sea varies from 64 feet at Tangland 
Bridge on the River Ythan, to 579 feet at the IV^oss of Belnagoak. 
The surface, although undulating, has, generally speaking, a bare 
appearance, owing to the absence of trees and hedgerows — the 
fields being chiefly fenced by low stone walls. The chmate is cold 
and moist. On the march between the two parishes the beauti- 
fully wooded pleasure-grounds of Haddo House — the residence of 
the Earl of Aberdeen — extend to nearly two thousand acres, and 
are continued along the banks of the Ythan to the sylvan valley 
of Gight, where the picturesque, ivy-clad ruins of the ancient castle 
of that name, celebrated for its connection with the family of Lord 
Byron, add a charm to the romantic scenery. 
The Ythan, with its deep and sluggish waters, flows througli the 
parish of Methlick for five or six miles, where its stream is increased 
by the Little Water of Gight, the Burn of Kelly, and other smaller 
rivulets. There are three artificial lakes of considerable extent in 
the grounds of Haddo House ; and several mosses and bogs still 
exist in the wilder districts. 
The number and variety of the birds found at present in the two 
parishes, when compared with those in a similar extent of country 
in the south of Scotland, are somewhat smaller, and this ib more 
particularly the case with the migratory insectivorous species, many 
of which, such as the Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Whitethroat, 
Wood Wren, and Chiffchaff, being conspicuous by their absence. 
It is probable that this may be accounted for by the great scarcity 
of the smaller migrants on the east coast of Aberdeenshire, and 
the district being far removed from the regular line of their 
migration. 
The following short notes on the birds which have occurred, or 
