212 
BIRDS. 
place in the county known to us as having been visited by 
this bird ; it has, however, been observed there both by Mr. 
Crawford of the Lairg Hotel, since deceased, and also by 
Donald Gillies, for a long time a keeper with Mr. Akroyd 
at Altnaharrow. A specimen in the Dunrobin Museum was 
obtained on Ben Clibrick on 18th June 1846. 
Mr. Osborne says that some half-dozen specimens of this bird 
have been obtained in Caithness, and records the capture of 
a pair in April 1867 (0. MSS., 1868). 
In 1872 Harting, quoting M'Gillivray, includes Suther- 
land and Caithness as being among the localities where 
the dotterel is believed to breed, but we cannot find that 
M'Gillivray includes these counties in his list {History of 
British Birds, vol. iv. pp. 104-11.3). 
279. Charadrius pluvialis, L. Golden Plover. 
Eesident and abundant, but rarer and much more local in 
winter. Breeds through all the moorland district, being 
commoner in the wetter and more desolate parts. N"umbers 
of these birds are often to be seen in a flock on the 
green ground high up along the river-sides in May and 
early in June, probably non-breeding birds. Common in 
the west, especially above the limestone cliffs, on the moor 
stretching back towards Loch Mulach-Corry. Common 
between Durness and Cape Wrath. 
Common and resident in Caithness, breeding on the moors, 
and coming down to the cultivated districts in autumn in 
immense flocks, where they mostly frequent fallows, 
pastures, and grass parks. Mr. Osborne says this species 
is very liable to " frost-bite," and he once examined a 
number that had been shot in a park at Clyth, most of 
which were disabled from this cause ; some had lost a toe, 
others most of the foot (0. MSS., 1868). 
Abundant in all suitable localities ,; approaching nearest 
