54 HALlyEETUS ALBICILLA. 



25th May. Two days before^ a slieplierd arrived to show me an Eagle's 

 nest. Soon after leaving the inn, we saw one flapping in the wind 

 high over-head, whereupon my guide called her a bad name — to which 

 he applied the epithets " old " and " grey-tailed," — showing great 

 spite towards her. Some distance off. Eagle-rocks were pointed out 

 by him — one, easily accessible, near where I had taken a Buzzard's 

 nest; another in a loch, where a nest might be for eight or ten 

 years, and then none for eight or ten years more, as he said, on the 

 authority of his father, who had died a very old man. At this last 

 spot the ledge overhung very much, but it seemed almost accessible 

 from below. It had not been tenanted for several years, as was the 

 case with many others about ; for the new forester had trapped great 

 numbers of Eagles since he had come into the country, three years 

 before, even as many as fifteen in one quarter of a year. Three noted 

 breeding -places were searched in vain by my emissaries, in all of which 

 there had been nests three years ago. On that day we, too, hunted 

 over the back of a mountain without success, though I subsequently 

 heard that the nest had been found in another place after I left. It 

 looked peculiarly grand and wild in the mist. I fired shots, and 

 climbed part of the way up the ravine, where White-tailed Eagles 

 were said to be, but nothing was seen or heard but Ravens. A story 

 was told me by my attendants of an old man who, near a nest, was 

 attacked by the birds and kept them ofi" with a stick ; he was not 

 climbing to it ; but another, who Avas, had his hat carried away and 

 dropped some distance off, whereupon he thought fit to return. The 

 following day, 25th May, I revisited this spot, but after carefully beat- 

 ing the ground I only saw Peregrine Falcons and Havens, though I 

 fired shots every few hundred yards. There was a loch, near which 

 horses were to meet us ; after a long round I came to it, and I saw a 

 huge new-looking Eagle's nest in a rock of very easy access at the end 

 of it. I climbed up : it was rather a steep hillside than a rock, and as 

 I came near the nest I saw an abundance of Eagle's dung and pieces of 

 of white down about ; I tried to alarm the bird in vain, I climbed 

 higher, and to my astonishment the nest was empty ; but in it were 

 castings, one damp, and ejected that afternoon. They were mostly 

 of lamb's wool ; and I had before seen a leg of lamb lying near. I 

 picked up feathers characteristic of the White-tailed Eagle, and, though 

 I saw no spots of blood nor footmarks, I felt sure that the nest had 

 been robbed that very morning. It was perfectly dry, and I could fancy 

 warm, but I was too angry to pay much attention to its structure ; 

 but I saw that it had a tree in front, was made of large sticks at the 

 bottom, and lined with moss and Liizida. It was probably the largest 



