HISTORY OF THE LOCH AN EILEIN OSPREYS 155 



1885 or 1886. There is reason to believe that in one of 

 these years the birds nested near the north-west corner of 

 Loch Gamhna, but did not breed. Harvie-Brown and Norrie 

 photographed the remains of this nest in 1893. 



The Rev. Dr Forsyth, the minister of Abernethy, who 

 died in 1907, and who had great knowledge of and interest 

 in the district, in 1S85 wrote to Harvie-Brown that until just 

 before the time of writing Ospreys had bred in the Abernethy 

 forests, and that even then he doubted whether the Loch an 

 Eilein birds were the only ones in the district. 



1887. The Ospreys bred at Loch an Eilein, and the eggs 

 were taken. Harvie-Brown seems to suggest that the birds 

 then went to Loch Gamhna, and that their eggs were taken 

 there also. 



1888. The story of this year is specially interesting, and 

 was reported, but not quite accurately, to Harvie-Brown by 

 Mr Chas. Grant in 1892, in the letter already mentioned. 

 Two female birds came on 7th April, and fought till one was 

 killed. The dead bird was picked up, according to Mr Grant, 

 by William Grant, a local tailor, and is now preserved as a 

 mounted specimen in The Doune. The same day a male 

 bird arrived, and the next day another male. The progress 

 and end of the combat between the two males seems unknown, 

 but the surviving pair after a few days deserted Loch an 

 Eilein, and bred at Loch Gamhna, rearing three young. One 

 little point may be corrected in this account : the man that 

 got the body of the slain hen-bird was Peter Grant, mason, 

 son of old Mrs Grant, then and for some years later resident 

 at the Tea Cottage. This information I had from those who 

 saw him carrying the bird to the Doune. 



1889. The Ospreys were seen at Loch an Eilein and at 

 Loch Insh ; they nested at Loch Gamhna, and the eggs 

 were taken. In August a pair were daily seen by W. Evans 

 up to the 20th, fishing at Loch Insh, and he was told they 

 had a nest in a tree near Kinrara dam. 



In August of this year an Osprey was shot at Lower 

 Cabrach, on the Deveron. 



1890. According to Mr Chas. Grant, the Ospreys bred 

 in Rothiemurchus, but not at Loch an Eilein. According to 



