10 
SOUJBCES OF INFORMATION. 
pipit being seen for an hour at a time." Again -. " A Sutherland 
moor, after the departure of the gulls, plovers, ducks, redshanks, 
divers, etc., that breed there in the spring and early summer, is 
not at all a happy hunting-ground for the ornithologist. Some- 
times during a whole day on the hill we came across nothing but 
the grouse we were shooting, and the inevitable squeaky tvretched 
meadow pipits." 
The next step in our survey is to add all subsequent occurrences 
of rarities, or extensions of distribution up to date, hee^ping this 
portion sufficiently distinct from the earlier worh of Oshorne and his 
predecessors, and, where necessary or important, quoting our autho- 
rities. Our own individual observations in Caithness will be noted 
as dating 1885, previous to which year we had no personal know- 
ledge, nor opportunities of acquiring any in the county, though we 
have for some years back always collected such materials as came 
to hand. 
In this way we hope to place the avi-fauna of Caithness on a 
workable footing, which, until Mr. Osborne wrote his MS. accounts, 
can scarcely be said to have been done. The comparative distri- 
bution in 1868, when Mr. Osborne wrote, — and in 1885, of such 
species as were noted by us, — present some interesting data ; but 
there is still room for more minute investigation in this direction 
than has yet been overtaken. Our object is, to the best of our 
ability, to place the Fauna in a clearer light, for the purpose of 
stimulating further discovery ; for we think this more in accordance 
with the true interests of science than to withhold our present 
information on the chance of making it more complete. 
A comparison of the fauna of the East and West is naturally 
suggested by our mode of treatment under each species ; i.e. imder 
Caithness and East Sutherland, on the one hand, and West Suther- 
land and Cromarty (which really belongs to the faunal area of 
" West Eoss ") on the other. 
