128 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



to be turning back. We accordingly left the boat moored 

 on the loch side and started to tramp home. On nearing 

 Mount Unavall, where I had previously seen the Hen Harrier, 

 I suggested that we should form a wide line and look for 

 its nest. There were five of us in all, and as we tramped 

 along the slope between Mount Unavall and Loch Horona, 

 I was rejoiced to see the female Harrier spring up from the 

 lowest down man's feet, just below me. She circled close 

 round our heads for a few minutes and then made off; the 

 nest was there, of course, but contained only one egg ; it was 

 placed on a bare spot in the long rank heather, made of 

 heather sticks with a saucer-shaped depression of dry grass 

 in the centre. I was delighted with the success of the da)', 

 having found the nests of the Black-throated Diver, Arctic 

 Skua, Great Black-backed, Common, and Herring Gulls and 

 the Hen Harrier. 



On 1 8th May we started out to look for " Hawks," Donald 

 having told me he got the Kite's nest on Ben Marig, about 

 seven miles away, two years before. On my questioning him 

 he said the bird was nearly as large as an eagle and had a 

 " long forked-tail " ; he added that the two eggs were about 

 the size of a hen's egg, but much rounder and with some 

 brown blotches on them. I think this is very conclusive, and 

 if so, would be, I think, the first known occurrence of the 

 Kite breeding in Scotland for the last eight or ten years. 

 Visited the Harrier's nest again on the way, and put her off 

 within ten yards still only one egg. Arrived at Ben Marig, 

 seeing Golden Plover and many Red Deer on the way, a 

 Merlin swept away from the hill as we approached, so we 

 started a search for its nest. In ten minutes we found it on 

 the top of a boulder, under a heather tuft, a slight nest of 

 sticks containing one egg; we never saw anything of the 

 Kite. Noticed the Little Grebe breeding on a loch amongst 

 rushes, and from the summit of Ben Marig had a grand view 

 of the lie of the land and water in this peculiar country. St 

 Kilda was visible, lying forty miles away to the west, in the 

 Atlantic ; the inhabitants of this desolate isle have no com- 

 munication with the mainland from year's end to year's end. 

 They seem to live mostly on the sea-birds frequenting the 



