i 5 4 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



insular eyrie. I accordingly saw a fledgling keep a dignified 

 state on the ruined wall." 



1864-71. There is no record for these years. 



1872. Lord Stamford, then the sporting tenant of 

 .Rothiemurchus, shot one of the birds, but, according to 

 Harvie-Brown, without knowing what bird he was shooting ; 

 the bird rose suddenly from the hollow of a mountain stream 

 among trees, and was shot at sight without recognition ; the 

 sportsman regretted the result of his hasty shot. 



1873-8. There is no record for these years. 



1879. In The Scotsman of 9th June 1879 there appeared 

 an article, unsigned, but quite obviously written by Mr Jolly, 

 H.M. Inspector of Schools, giving an account of a visit to 

 Loch an Eilein, where the Ospreys had that season hatched 

 two young, one of which, however, was later found dead on 

 the shore. On 12th June, in the same paper, appeared a 

 letter to the editor, protesting against the publication of 

 information as to the breeding place of the Ospreys, lest 

 mischief should ensue. In Good Words for April 1880, 

 Mr Jolly gave, under his own name, an extended account of 

 the visit previously reported in TJic Scotsman. It may fairly 

 be said that Mr Jolly's article first made the Loch an Eilein 

 Ospreys known to the general public, but it is a moot point 

 whether the Ospreys have or have not benefited by the 

 publicity. 



1880. In August 1880 Mr Jolly again saw the Ospreys 

 at Loch an Eilein, where they had reared two young. Of 

 this second visit Mr Jolly gave an account in Good Words 

 for May 18S1 (Harvie-Brown by some curious error says 

 September 1880), with an excellent drawing by Mrs 

 Blackburn, showing the " fore and aft " manner in which 

 the bird carries a fish. 



1881. The Ospreys were at Loch an Eilein, but I do 

 not know whether they reared any young. 



1882-4. There is no record for these seasons, but in 1892 

 Mr Charles Grant, younger son of the second Sir John Peter 

 Grant, in a letter to Harvie-Brown, said in somewhat vague 

 terms that about this time the Loch an Eilein nest was 

 deserted for some few years. 



