130 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



before I came to the county the place was deserted. This nest was 

 placed near the Sletal Cairn, in Glen Loth, where the last Sutherland 

 wolf is supposed to have been killed. Eagles visit this place yearly, 

 both in spring and autumn, and I have often seen one or a pair 

 soaring round ; on one occasion I saw three together near this in the 

 autumn. At that season Eagles are not uncommonly seen in 

 different parts of the East coast. 



The other nesting-place is, I believe, still used. In 1878 one 

 young bird was hatched out, and was so conspicuous that a shep- 

 herd told me he could see it a mile off showing white in the nest, 

 which was placed in such an accessible spot, that the same shep- 

 herd said, with a little care he could have taken a horse into it. 

 The birds and nest are strictly preserved here, and also in the Reay 

 forest. 



My keeper once trapped an Eagle which, however, managed to 

 loose the string by which the trap was fastened to a stone ; the man 

 pursued the Eagle for some time, getting pretty close to it (he had 

 not his gun out that day or could easily have shot it), till at last 

 the Eagle hit the trap against a stone, broke it, and so escaped. 



2. White-tailed Eagle. Haliaetus albicilla (Lin.). — Much rarer 

 than the Golden Eagle, and I never heard of even an old nesting- 

 place near. I have now and then seen what I thought was this 

 bird on the wing, in the autumn, and one young one that was 

 trapped by a friend of mine is now in the Dunrobin Museum, 

 where there is also an albino specimen, shot at Auchinduich, in 

 Nov. 1854. 



3. Osprey. Pandion haliaetus (Lin.). — Rarely seen on the East 

 coast. I fancied I once saw one at Loch Naver in 1870 or 1871. 

 In 1879 an Osprey came down to Loch Brora for a week at the 

 latter end of June, and on one or two occasions I saw it fishing. 

 During the time it was there I saw it every day. 



Obs. — I saw an Osprey, one Sunday in the autumn of 1874, fly 

 over a house on the Cromarty Firth, where I was then living. It 

 was followed by a mob of Gulls. 



4. Peregrine Falcon. Falco peregrinus, Tunstall. — Still fairly 

 common, though shot or trapped out in one or two of the more easily 

 accessible places. A pair breeds nearly every year on Carral Rock, 

 overlooking Loch Brora. One year they changed to a rocky burn 

 on the other side of the Loch, where they reared one young one, 

 which was taken ; there was an addled egg also in the nest. When 



