Gairloch In North-West Ross-Shire Part 33

RING-OUZEL (_t.u.r.dus torquatus_).--Common, and, like the mavis and blackbird, very destructive to fruit. I often see a number about my cherrytrees in the garden at Inveran.

DUNNOCK, or HEDGE-SPARROW (_Accentor modularis_).--Common, especially near houses.

REDBREAST, or ROBIN (_Erithacus rubecula_).--Common everywhere, and at all seasons.

REDSTART (_Ruticilla phnicurus_).--Rather common. Both Mr O. H.

Mackenzie and I have often seen it, and Mr Harvie Brown noted it as seen at Gruinard in 1884.

STONECHAT (_Saxicola rubicola)_.--Fairly common. It nests early. Mr Harvie Brown saw it at Aultbea in 1884, more abundantly than the whinchat.

WHINCHAT (_Saxicola rubetra_).--Abundant. Mr Harvie Brown noted it as "common" at Strath na Sealg in 1884, and Mr O. H. Mackenzie and I have often seen it in Gairloch.

WHEATEAR (_Saxicola nanthe_).--Very common. It arrives about the end of March or the beginning of April, and nests mostly amongst stones.

SEDGE WARBLER (_Acrocephalus schn.o.baenus_).--Occurs. Not common.

BLACKCAP (_Sylvia atricapilla_).--This bird is not common, but occurs.

WILLOW WREN, or WARBLER (_Phylloscopus trochilus_).--Frequent. Mr Harvie Brown found it common at Gruinard in 1884.

CHIFF CHAFF (_Phylloscopus collybita_).--Common. Seldom seen, but often heard. It is a migrant.

GOLDCREST, or GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN (_Regulus cristatus_).--Very common. I found one in the house at Inveran one evening, and have often seen flocks in the larches close by.

WREN (_Troglodytes parvulus_).--Common everywhere all the year round.

CREEPER, or TREE-CREEPER (_Certhia familiaris_).--The creeper is tolerably common. I have often seen it creeping or almost running up the side of the house at Inveran, pressing its tail against the wall after its manner.

BLUE t.i.tMOUSE, or TOM-t.i.t (_Parus caeruleus_).--Very common, but not so much seen as the coal-t.i.tmouse.

COAL-t.i.tMOUSE (_Parus ater_).--This spry little bird is very common, and is seen at all seasons of the year; often in large flocks, frequently in company with the long-tailed t.i.tmouse.

LONG-TAILED t.i.tMOUSE, or BOTTLE-t.i.t (_Acredula caudata_).--This tiny bird is abundant.

PIED WAGTAIL, or WATER WAGTAIL (_Motacilla lugubris_).--Very common.

Like the other wagtails, it is a summer visitor; it arrives in the end of March.

WHITE WAGTAIL (_Motacilla alba_).--This bird visits Gairloch. I have seen at least two pairs on the River Ewe in most years. An ornithological friend shot two specimens near Poolewe bridge some years ago, and identified them as being undoubtedly the white wagtail of Yarrell.

GREY WAGTAIL (_Motacilla sulphurea_).--This beautiful bird is tolerably common here. On 30th July 1886 I obtained at Inveran a singular variety of this wagtail; it was a young bird in nestling feathers, but strong on the wing, of a white and fawn colour intermixed,--not an albino.

MEADOW-PIPIT, or t.i.tLARK (_Anthus pratensis_).--This is one of the commonest birds in Gairloch.

ROCK-PIPIT (_Anthus obscurus_).--The rock-pipit is frequent here. Mr Harvie Brown noted it as common at Gruinard in 1884.

SKYLARK, or LAVROCK (_Alauda arvensis_).--The skylark is not common now.

It used to be so, and no reason can be given for the falling off in its numbers. Mr Harvie Brown observed it at Aultbea in 1884.

SNOW BUNTING, or SNOW FLECK (_Plectrophanes nivalis_).--This pretty bird is common, and is frequently seen in large flocks in winter. It is believed to breed on the higher hills, but there is no evidence that its nests have ever been found in Gairloch. Donald Fraser, the old forester at Fannich, who had been head tod-hunter to the old Duke of Sutherland, told Mr O. H. Mackenzie about thirty years ago that he had often seen the nests of the snow bunting under flags on the top of the Scuir Mor of Fannich. On the same mountain Mr O. H. Mackenzie saw (about 1858) several broods of snow buntings flitting about when deerstalking there.

The young birds were in nestling plumage.

BUNTING, or COMMON BUNTING (_Emberiza miliaria_).--The common bunting, which is rare in some parts of Britain, is abundant in Gairloch, and is with us all the year round. I shot a cream-coloured bunting at Inverasdale some years ago; it is in my collection at Inveran.

YELLOW BUNTING, or YELLOW-HAMMER (_Emberiza citrinella_).--This bunting is very common; it is one of the tamest of wild birds.

BLACK-HEADED BUNTING (_Euspiza melanocephala_).--This peculiar-looking bird is common here. I have seen their nests.

CHAFFINCH, or SPINK (_Fringilla clebs_).--The chaffinch is perhaps the most commonly seen bird in Gairloch.

MOUNTAIN FINCH, or BRAMBLING (_Fringilla montifringilla_).--The brambling is rarely seen here. Mr O. H. Mackenzie once shot one out of a flock of chaffinches in Gairloch. He saw more at the time.

HOUSE-SPARROW (_Pa.s.ser domesticus_).--The house-sparrow used to be unknown in Gairloch. It is said to have first come to the Free Manse at Aultbea or to Isle Ewe in the mail-packet from Stornoway. This was about 1852. Mr Harvie Brown noticed it at Aultbea in 1884. It is now pretty common where it can find nesting-places about houses. It often builds in trees close to houses, if it can get no better place.

GREENFINCH, or GREEN LINNET (_Coccothraustes chloris_).--Common, but not known to breed.

GOLDFINCH (_Carduelis elegans_).--Mr O. H. Mackenzie shot several at Charleston many years ago. It has not been observed latterly.

SISKIN, or ABERDEVINE (_Carduelis spinus_).--Not common, but sometimes seen in flocks in late autumn. It is a migrant.

REDPOLL, or LESSER REDPOLL (_Linota rufescens_).--Common. Seen in flocks.

LINNET, or GREY LINTIE (_Linota cannabina_).--I am not positive that I have seen this bird in Gairloch parish, and Mr O. H. Mackenzie has never observed it. Mr Harvie Brown saw it in the adjoining parish of Loch Broom in 1884, and I think it only right to include it in the list of Gairloch birds.

TWITE, or HEATHER LINTIE (_Linota flavirostris_).--Common, especially near the sea-sh.o.r.e. Mr Harvie Brown noted it as seen at Aultbea in the summer of 1884.

BULLFINCH (_Pyrrhula Europaea_).--This handsome bird is quite common now, and destroys the young fruit of plum trees, and the fruit buds of gooseberry bushes, so that gardeners wage war against it. Mr O. H.

Mackenzie says it was unknown in Gairloch about thirty years ago.

CROSSBILL (_Loxia curvirostra_).--Not common, but occurs. Mr O. H.

Mackenzie shot three out of a large flock, in a larch tree close to the house at Inveran, about 1851.

STARLING (_Sturnus vulgaris_).--Very common in places. For want of old trees it builds in heaps of stones and old walls; and in the island of Foura, at the mouth of Loch Ewe, it uses holes in the ground for its nest, along with the stormy petrel.

ROSE-COLOURED STARLING, or PASTOR (_Pastor roseus_).--This rare bird probably occurs here. One was shot at Torridon about 1880, so close to the southern confines of Gairloch parish as to justify my mentioning it in this list. It is in Mr Darroch's possession at Torridon; it is a beautiful specimen in mature plumage.

CHOUGH, or REDLEGGED CROW (_Pyrrhocorax graculus_).--This bird is rare indeed. Mr O. H. Mackenzie saw one at Tournaig in the summer of 1883, the only instance he knows.

RAVEN (_Corvus corax_).--The raven is very common here, and has many favourite nesting-places, all in crags. It is the earliest bird to build its nest. The raven is very voracious; it lives mostly on carrion, but destroys the eggs of grouse and other game birds.

HOODED CROW, or GREY CROW (_Corvus cornix_).--The hoodie is very common.

It nests in trees and sometimes in rocks. It destroys many eggs of game birds. Mr O. H. Mackenzie has not observed the black or carrion crow (the kindred species) here.

ROOK (_Corvus frugilegus_).--The rook is common, but is not so abundant as it used to be. After the breeding season all the rooks in the district gather each evening in one large flock, and roost every night from the end of October to the end of March in the fir wood on the River Ewe, a little below Inveran. During the rest of the year not one is to be seen at this place, for they are engaged elsewhere with their nests and young. There are now at least three rookeries in the parish, viz., at the burial-ground at Culinellan near Kenlochewe, at the Poolewe manse, and on the crannog or artificial island on Loch Kernsary.

Formerly there was no rookery in Gairloch. The rook destroys eggs. Mr O.

H. Mackenzie has caught rooks in the very act of demolis.h.i.+ng hens' and partridges' eggs.

DAW, or JACKDAW (_Corvus monedula_).--The jackdaw is occasionally seen in winter, but it does not breed in Gairloch, at least not in the present day.