INTRODUCTORY ; PHYSICAL ASPECTS. 
In" the joint preparation of the account of the first-named county, 
we have considered that while T. E. Buckley takes in hand 
the eastern parts of the distxict, as having had greater ex- 
perience of that portion, J. A. Harvie-Brown should undertake 
the western and northern portions for the same reason ; and it 
became advisable to define more accurately the two districts 
thus separated. This was done with comparative ease, as the high- 
road between Lairg and Tongue forms a very natural as well 
as convenient division ; Buckley knowing more of the fauna to 
the east of that line, and Harvie-Brown more of that to the 
west. An advantage is also found in that it fairly well repre- 
sents a natural division between the high and rugged ranges 
of the western land, and the smoother, more gently undulat- 
ing moss and moorland of the eastern division ; which latter, 
thouoh it claims amongst its most noticeable features several 
goodly mountains, such as Ben Clibrick and Ben Armine, and a 
wild stretch of deer-forest around Dunrobin, yet is, perhaps, better 
described as a vast waste of moorland, with oases of woodland, and 
in the east and south a considerable portion of reclaimed land 
and forest-growth. 
Since the first appearance of The Vertebrate Fauna of Suther- 
landshire,"^ a considerable amount of personal inspection of the 
adjoining county of Caithness has been accomplished, and we are 
now able to offer what we believe to be a fairly complete account 
of this remaining portion of the faunal area of " Sutherland," as 
defined in our previous account. Harvie-Brown personally in- 
' A Tour in Sutherlandshire, etc. By Charles St. John. Appendix on the 
" Vertebrate Fauna of Sutherlandshire," pp. 291-374. 
A. 
