144 
BIRDS. 
gealgach, but further west, in Assynt, more restricted to the 
cultivated districts. Common at Drumbeg and Point of 
Stoir, also at Scourie and Altnaharrow. Reported as absent 
at Inchnadaraph in 188.5 (J. Young, in lit). 
Local name in Caithness — '■' Zayrag." 
Very abundant, and plentifully distributed all over the 
county in the spring and summer, assembling in large 
flocks in the autunm preparatory to their migration, few 
remaining through the winter (0. MSS., 1868). 
In 1885 found to be very common .all round the culti- 
vated belt, but noticed to be commoner where the common 
bunting was scarcest^ — viz., commoner on the north than on 
the east coast, and as regards the two species, vice versa. 
116. Alauda arborea, Z. Wood Lark. 
117. Calendrella brachydactyla (Zeis?.). Short-toed Lark. 
118. Melanocorypha sibirica ((??/«.). White-winged Lark. 
119. Otocorys alpestris (i.). Shore Lark. 
Section 5. OSCINES CULTRIEOSTEES. 
Family STUKNIDiE. 
120. Agelaeus phoeniceus (L.). Red-winged Starling. 
121. Sturnus vulgaris, Z. Starling. 
Resident and increasing; rai'e previous to the year 1870. This 
species is at present mostly confined to the coast-line. A 
pair, however, bred at Balnacoil, ten miles up the Brora 
Strath, in 1879. Abiindant at Scourie, Handa, and the 
Badcall Islands, where they nest in holes in the peaty turf, 
and also in holes which we believe to be occupied later in 
the season by petrels (TJialassidroma). Common also at 
