The game-birds of the district are the partridge and the pheasant in the agricultural region, and the red grouse on the moors. The higher hills, such as Loch-na-gar, have ptarmigan, while the wooded areas bordering on the highland line are frequented by black-cock and capercailzie. These last are a re-introduction of recent years and seem to be multiplying; but, like the squirrel, they are destructive to the growing shoots of the pine trees and are not encouraged by some proprietors. The lapwing or green plover’s wail is an unfailing sound throughout the county in the spring. These useful birds are said to be fewer than they were fifty years ago—a result probably due to the demand for their eggs as a table delicacy. After the first of April it is illegal to take the eggs, and this partial protection serves to maintain the stock in fair numbers. The starling, which, like the squirrel, was unknown in this district sixty years ago, has increased so rapidly that flocks of them containing many thousands are now a common sight in the autumn. The kingfisher is met with, very, very rarely on the river-bank, but the dipper is never absent from the boulder-strewn beds of the streams. The plaintive note of the curlew and the shriller whistle of the golden plover break the silence of the lonely moors. The golden eagle nests in the solitudes of the mountains and may occasionally be seen, soaring high in the vicinity of his eyrie. Of fresh-water fishes, the yellow or brown trout is plentiful in all the rivers, especially in the Don and the Ythan. The migratory sea-trout and the salmon are also caught in each, although the Dee is pre-eminently the most productive. The salmon fisheries round the coast and at the mouth of the rivers are a source of considerable revenue. The fish are caught by three species of net, bag-nets (floating nets) and stake-nets (fixed) in the sea, and by drag-nets or sweep-nets in the tidal reaches of the rivers. Time was when drag-nets plied as far inland as Banchory-Ternan (19 miles), but these have gradually been withdrawn and are now relegated to a short distance from the river mouth, the rights having been bought up by the riparian proprietors further up the river, who wish to obtain improved opportunities for successful angling. The Dee has, in this way, been so improved that it is now perhaps the finest salmon-angling river in Scotland. The insects of the district call for little remark. Butterflies are few in species and without variety. It is only in certain warm autumns that the red admiral puts in an appearance. The cabbage-white, the tortoise-shell, and an occasional meadow-brown and fritillary are the prevailing species.