230 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



frank and kind correspondence, as well as others who have con- 

 tributed many interesting scraps of information during my visit 

 to my old quarters in the west. It was no small pleasure to me 

 to find that tiie changes there — in other matters besides distribu- 

 tion of birds — were few, and that these few were only what might 

 have been expected in the ordinary course of things. I found 

 the same hospitable roof and well-remembered faces ready to 

 welcome me, and I at once felt assured of the continuance of the 

 old regime. 



In the following list, the numbers affixed to the names of the 

 species indicate the pages of my former communication, and are 

 intended to facilitate a comparison of the observations made at 

 the different periods. 



THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 



AQUILA OHRYSAETUS {L.) 72. 



The Golden Eagle is still common, and is said to be even com- 

 moner in the west than formerly. The old eyries are still occupied, 

 and one new locality has been taken up, where young were reared 

 this year. But Mr Crawford, Tongue, seems to consider that 

 they have decreased in numbers in the north, and thinks that the 

 cause must be found in the extravagant prices offered for specimens 

 by collectors. I heard, however, that in the Eeay forest, orders 

 had lately been given to kill down the Eagles, owing to damage 

 done, or supposed to be done, of late, to the fawns of the roe-deer. 

 The probability is, that if damage be done in this way, the blame 

 should lie with some one particular pair of Eagles, and not with 

 the whole tribe. There will be, doubtless, fawn-stealing Eagles, 

 as there are occasionally lamb-stealing Eagles, and when these are 

 discovered, no doubt they should be destroyed, but it seems hard 

 to punish the whole race for the misdemeanours of perhaps a 

 single pair. Let us hope that, if such an order has been issued, 

 it may §re long be withdrawn. The good that Eagles do in 

 a deer forest can, I think, scarcely be counterbalanced by the evil 

 they do ; and the harm they do, as a tribe, to either the interests 

 of the game-preserver or sheep-farmer, is more imaginary than real^ 

 though I do not deny that sometimes a certain pair of Eagles will 

 do considerable damage to the latter's flocks, just as a man-eating 

 tiger will spread terror and death in an Indian village. 



