THE LOCH-AN-EILEIN OSPREYS 133 



Ospreys that year at all. A pair of the birds came to the 

 castle on or about April 3rd, and nested there. They were 

 followed by a third bird. Opinions differ as to whether the 

 third was a male or a female, the former seeming the more 

 probable. There ensued much fighting, in the course of 

 which the nest was damaged, and, according to one witness, 

 the eggs were smashed and knocked down into the loch. 

 The result of the fighting is not known ; but after it the 

 castle nest was deserted. It is said that another nest was 

 used, of which I shall make further mention ; but as far as 

 is known there were no young ones produced. It may be 

 noted that in May of this same year an Osprey was shot 

 at Knockespock, and it has been suggested that the third 

 bird was the mate of the one shot. 



In 1900 I was at or near Rothiemurchus during most 

 of April and all August. Several times in the spring I saw 

 one Osprey at the castle nest, but apparently not building ; 

 and towards the end of the month I saw the two birds on 

 the tree which I thought had been described to me as the 

 one on which they had nested in the previous year. But 

 they were not then nesting there, nor was there any trace 

 of a nest in the tree, and no one seemed to know where 

 they were nesting. At the end of my spring holiday, being 

 desirous to know about this, I devoted one day to a careful 

 search. Knowing the district well, I was able to choose a 

 point that commanded a wide range of the possible nesting 

 country. Here I spread a plaid, and lay on my back, field- 

 glass in hand, carefully scanning the heavens. I was 

 rewarded ; for in the afternoon one of the birds flew into 

 sight, carrying a fish in its claws, and settled on a tall tree. 

 I watched it through the glass, and after a time it flew off 

 to another tree, in the top of which I was delighted to see 

 the nest. The bird remained there awhile, and then flew 

 away, still carrying its fish. I made my way to the tree, 

 the position of which I had carefully noted, and scrambled 

 up to the nest, which was built of biggish twigs, many of 

 them nearly a yard in length, and was roughly lined with 

 heather, loose straw, and the straw wrapper of a wine-bottle. 

 Retiring from the immediate neighbourhood of the tree, I 



