102 
BIRDS. 
At certain points also this species is common close down 
to the sea, as in the neighbourhood of Tarbat, and between 
that and Loch Laxford. Wolley gives an interesting 
description of the taking of a ring-ouzel's nest and three 
eggs, and shooting the hen, from the nearly perpendicular 
side of the shaft or pit in the limestone where the river 
Trailigill runs underground [Wolley's E.-B., iii. p. 281],^ a 
locality where we have also known the species to have bred. 
Eeported by Mr. Osborne as a common though not well-known 
species, frequenting the stony and hilly districts in the 
interior of the county, though he has seen it on the sea- 
coast, and in particular on the north side of Wick Bay, near 
the iron water spring at " The Head " (0. MSS., 1868). 
Not observed by us anywhere in the county until we 
were crossing the Ord of Caithness. There it appeared com- 
monly. We did not, be it remembered, visit much of the 
interior of the county in 1885. 
9. Monticola saxatilis, L. Rock-Thrush. 
Sub-family CINCLINJE. 
10. Cinclus aquaticus, Bechst. Dipper. 
Common, and resident in all the rivers and burns of the east. 
When driven out of these by ice, the birds hang about the 
mouths at the sea-coast, where the water does not freeze. 
At one time a reward was given for their heads, on the 
ground that they ate the salmon spawn, but this having 
been happily disproved, these cheerful birds are left to 
breed in security and peace ; and, partly by our own exer- 
tions, the premium has been withdrawn. Fluctuations in 
numbers occurred in the west of the county owing to these 
persecutions, but since the premium was withdrawn they 
have again increased. In one return of " vermin " killed, 
1 Wolley's i;.-5. = "Wolley's Egg-Books. 
