PHYSICAL FEATURES OF SUTHERLAND AND CAITHNESS. 21 
river, continuing with little intermission to the Dornoch Firth. 
The beach affords a convenient nesting-place to such birds as the 
common tern, oyster-catcher, and ringed plover ; and sheldrakes 
breed in the rabbit-burrows in the sandhills. Wherever there are 
sandy cliffs high enough to afford a secure nesting-place, jackdaws 
build in numbers, and these do great havoc amongst the eggs of the 
terns and oyster-catchers. 
Certain rocks which are bare at half-tide are frequented by 
seals, mostly the Grey seal {Halichcerus gryphus), the Firth seal 
{Phoca vitulina) being less common along the open shore, thougli 
very abundant both in the Dornoch Firth and at the Little Ferry. 
On one occasion the Harp seal {Phoca Greenlandica) was shot 
by Mr. Houstoun of Kintradwell, but its value not being suffi- 
ciently known, only the skin was preserved, and this was after- 
wards cut up for various purposes. 
The wave of .migration seems almost entirely to leave the 
Sutherland coast untouched, and this may account for the very 
small numbers of migratory waders that are to be seen, even in 
such an apparently favourable locality as the Little Ferry. A few 
bar-tailed godwits appear now and then, but even dunlins are 
scarce ; the mussel-scalps attract great numbers of oyster-catchers ; 
and in hard weather a good many golden plovers, driven off the 
hills, come down to the shores. The only grey plover known to 
have occurred on this part of the coast was shot near Kintradwell 
amongst some rocks, and was quite alone. These patches of rock are 
a favourite resort of purple sandpipers, redshanks, and a few turn- 
stones, though tlie latter often keep in small flocks by themselves. 
Leaving the coast-line, we next come to the cultivated district 
which lies between the sandhills and the rising ground. This 
presents but little interest, excepting that the quail has been found 
nesting on one or two occasions near Brora and also near Dornoch, 
as recorded by Sheriff Mackenzie. The wooded district which 
occupies a portion of the same area, and extends also higher up the 
rising ground, is of considerable importance. 
It may be as well to mention that there are few pine-trees of 
any great antiquity in Sutherland, the oldest known to us, and 
