VEKTEBRATE FAUNA OF CAITHNESS. 
Of the remains of birds among the brochs and kitchen- 
middens of Caithness we have not much to relate. 
Laing mentions Great Auk bones (Alca ivipennis) ; Lesser Auk 
{Alca torda); Cormorant {Phalacrocorax carlo) ; Shag {Fhalacrom^ax 
graculus) ; Solan Goose {Sida Bassana) ; and, — as he does also in the 
account of the mammalia of the brochs, etc., — -points out the im- 
portant " link of connection with those of Denmark, strengthening 
the evidence of high antiquity drawn from the rudeness of the 
implements found beside them." Figures of the bones of Alca 
impennis are given {op. cit. p. 51, fig. 57).^ 
In drawing up the following list of the existing birds of Caith- 
ness, we have taken for its basis the Mss. of the late Mr. Henry 
Osborne, kindly placed by his father at our disposal. Previous to 
these MSS., which date up to 1868, it appears that two other lists 
had been published : the first, given in the IsTew Statistical Account 
of the parish of Wick, contains a bare list of the species preserved 
in Dr. E. S. Sinclair's collection,^ all said to have been obtained in 
^ See also The Great Auk or Garefowl, etc. : Its History, Arclimology, and 
Remains. By Symington Grieve, Edinburgh. Thomas C. Jack, Ludgate Hill, 
London, 1885. Pp. 43-47. 
2 We had better here remark that Dr. Sinclair's collection was seen behind 
dark and locked cases, of which the keys were lost, by Harvie-Brown when at 
Thurso. The whole is in a very rickety condition, and there is absolutely no 
record left giving localities or dates to any of the rarities therein contained, 
as we found out by applying to the authorities. Any notices of rare species 
mentioned by us as occurring in this collection must be taken for what they are 
worth. Should, however, anything further come to light before the time of going 
to press, such will be found in an Appendix. It appears that Mr. Wilson, in 
