Nairnshire (9), a northern county of Scotland, fronts the Moray Firth, wedged in between Elgin on the N. and Inverness on the W. and S.; the surface rugged and mountainous in the S. and E., slopes towards the Firth, and is traversed by the rivers Nairn and Findhorn; Loch Loy is the largest of several small lochs; scarcely one-fifth of the soil is devoted to the raising of cereals, but more attention is given to stock-raising; Cawdor and Auldearn are places in it of historic and antiquarian interest.