24 



AQUILA CHRYSAETUS. 



I have very lightly touched in one or two places where it was soiled 

 with handling. The eggs and the wool in which they were packed 

 have the peat-smoke smell of the inside of a Highland cottage^ with 

 its happy recollections : through this smell I fancied I could perceive 

 the scent of the Eagle's nest. 



The following parti culars^ many of which are of considerable interest, 

 were received subsequently from my correspondent : — "3 May, 1852. 

 ■^ ^ I got the eggs the third day before the date of my [former] 

 letter, being April 17th. They were quite fresh. I should think 

 they had only been sat upon three or four days. The nest was on the 

 side facing the water, being, I suppose, the north-north-east, in a rather 

 rugged rock. I could get within three yards of it without a rope, and I 

 think, if I were ever trying it again, I would go without any rope at all. 

 The rock is about fifteen or twenty fathoms in height, and nearly two- 

 thirds of it under the nest [i. e. the nest was thirty or forty feet from 

 the top. — J. W.] . There is no overhanging in the rock. The nest 

 was very large, with some sticks as tliick as my arm, lined with heather 

 and wool, with no tree in front. The Eagles have been known to 

 build there for a number of years back in the same spot, and harried 

 almost every year. The first day I tried it I did not see the bird on 

 the nest ; nor did I know she was there, till she flew over my head, as 

 large as life. On my return the second day, I could not see her head. 

 I shouted, but she would not rise until I threw a stone. I made an 

 attempt to get the eggs ; but as there was no one with me, I had not 

 nerve enough to push on. Then on the third day I started with a 

 young friend with gun and ropes. I shot the Eagle, and then got 

 the eggs by his holding the rope. I could not see the bird from the 

 bottom of the rock, and the head only could be seen from the top. I 

 shot her from below ; she flew out of the nest rather hurriedly. She 

 only gave one scream when she felt the smart of the shot, flew about 

 a hundred yards, and fell quite dead. I did not see the cock bird 

 the last day. I did not see any Hares near the nest, nor are there 

 any Ptarmigan on the hill. There was a Raven's nest quite close by 

 the Eagle's. I did not hear of any Fox being on the ground. You 

 regret, I have no doubt, that I shot the Eagle ; but there will be a 

 nest there next season. I never knew (nor did I hear) of an Eagle 

 wanting a mate above a month at furthest." 



§ 31. ^i^^o.— ArgyUshire, 20 April, 1852. 



O. W. tab. F. 



These two very fine eggs reached me at Paddington, 11th June, 

 1852. The spotted one is of extraordinary size. It has perhaps lost 



