132 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



water, dipped its feet and legs. Once the under surface of 

 the body touched the water, and several times just the 

 points of the wings did so. The first bird rose from the 

 nest carrying the fish, and both birds flew away. On 

 August 2 1st I twice saw the pair of birds flying very high. 

 They rose so high that they were lost in the vertical dis- 

 tance. I have similarly seen herons circle upwards over 

 Loch-an-Eilein till the eye could distinguish them no longer, 

 and have often wondered what birds might be high above 

 us and looking down at us. 



In 1898 I was at Loch-an-Eilein during most of April, 

 and in the neighbourhood all August and part of September. 

 The Ospreys came on March 29th, and were busy building 

 on the castle when I first saw them on April 9th. On April 

 I ith, in the early morning, I watched them busy with stick 

 and turf, and was amused to see difference of opinion 

 between them as to " furnishing " ; the female not approving 

 of the male's selection and placing of turf, he, of course, 

 meekly permitting his arrangement to be altered. That 

 morning I saw the male twice attempt to couple, but 

 apparently without success. The following morning I saw 

 the action a third time, and apparently successful. The 

 male bird rose on wing a few feet above the female and 

 gently dropped toward her, she rising high on her feet to 

 receive him. The action had about it a gracefulness and 

 delicacy that was entirely in keeping with what I feel to be 

 the general dignity that seems to belong to these birds. 



In the summer I did not see the birds at all. Apparently 

 they did not hatch at the castle nest ; but four birds were 

 seen flying together near Glen Feshie, and it seems probable 

 that they had nested in that neighbourhood. In September, 

 when it was certain that the birds were not using the castle 

 nest and had apparently gone away, I obtained permission 

 to visit the nest, and found it empty and bare, made of 

 branches and twigs, with no lining of any kind. 



In 1899 I was at Rothiemurchus during August and 

 part of September. This was the year of the forest fire, 

 which began on August 24th and so seriously damaged the 

 stretch of hillside on the south-east of Loch-an-Eilein (see 

 " Cairngorm Club Journal," January 1900). I did not see the 



