26 AQUILA CHRYSAETUS. 



the mass through a glass looked very great. It was necessary to go 

 a long way up the valley before we got to a spot sufficiently near to 

 enable us to distinguish it well. There were no eggs in it then, as a 

 forester reported to us after an examination he had been directed to 

 make^ 



§ 32. One, with fragments of another. — Argyllshire, 23 April, 

 1851. "J. W. ipse," 



Mr. Edge and 1 left our quarters with our guide in a light cart, 

 provided with ropes, &c. Opposite a certain corrie we met the 

 forester, who had no good news for us, as the Eagle had deserted 

 her nest [§ 31] in the rock at the end of it. He went on with 

 us some way further, when we sent him forward to fetch the head 

 forester, on whose ground was the other nest we intended to visit. 

 We also sent our cart back with the driver, and walked on with our 

 guide directly towards the point which had been shown to him as the 

 locality for the principal object of our search. After crossing the 

 river with some difficulty, we reached a spot opposite to the nest, 

 and rested there. The place looked like a small pigeon-hole, in the 

 face of the barest and boldest mountain in this part of the country. 

 On the south side of it, at the entrance of the glen, our guide pointed 

 out another spot, apparently inaccessible, which had been shown to 

 him as a locality for the same pair of Eagles. Presently a whistle 

 announced the arrival of the other party, and we observed with our 

 glasses an Eagle fly into the hole, and soon leave it again. This 

 gave rise to much speculation as to whether it was the cock or 

 the hen. We now began to ascend ; and after a long climb up the 

 mountain, over very broken ground, we began to get into the region 

 of the nest. We climbed over a very rough rock or mass of rocks 

 beneath the nest, and then came upon a huge crack in the rock, 

 down which we rolled stones, making a great noise. Still ascending, 

 we were perhaps a hundred yards below the nest when the Eagle 

 left it, flapping slowly, the ends of her wings curling up at each 

 stroke, till she was round a corner to the west, and we never saw 

 her again ; but before this we had seen the cock bird high overhead. 

 Then we went down a ravine in which there was a great drift of 

 snow, and up the opposite side, where there was some rather ticklish 

 climbing, till we recrossed on very slippery snow, and reached a 

 succession of ledges or a little track on a level with the nest. For 



' [During the past summer (1862) Mr. Wolf visited this nest, which then con- 

 tained two young ones ; and I am indebted to him for the beautiful plate (tab. F. ) 

 representing it, which has been executed from his sketch by Mr. Jury. — Ed.] 



