140 BUTEO VULGARIS. 



range of rocks over the inn. He it was who was said to have looked 

 like a spider at the end of its thread last year [St. John, ' Tour in 

 Sutherland/ i. 16] ; but he declared that he was never hanging, and, 

 moreover, that Mr. St. John never saw him, being afraid to look 

 over ; and that only one lad held the rope whilst Mr. St. John and 

 his companion tried for a shot at the old birds. I found a nest by 

 firing a shot from below ; and I climbed up, my dog ' Watch ' after me, 

 to get a proper place above. Ropes were fetched ; but there was so 

 much loose stuff that I could not descend with the gun, and we were 

 obliged to frighten off the bird a second time by a large stone. The 

 man fired at it, and my gun " kicked '' him tremendously. The stake 

 being fixed, and three men being at the rope (which was fastened 

 under my arms), and another at the edge to prevent it from cutting, 

 I descended. The last drop, of fourteen feet or so, to the nest was 

 plumb. There were two eggs, poorly marked and hard sat on. The 

 nest was made as usual, lined with Luzula, and on a very small ledge, 

 only just big enough to support it. Some sheep, in a spot from 

 which four or five had been lost since Christmas, were rescued by 

 my ropes. 



P.S. 1850. — I hear that this Glead's nest is occupied by a Pen- 

 guin. The Peregrines did not breed in that rock in 1849, but they did 

 in 1848 {vide St. John \J,oc. cit.']). This year, 1850, the Buzzards 

 were in a worse place than last. The man who was wdth me before 

 went and took out three young ones, which died during his temporary 

 absence from home. So that in three successive years the Buzzards 

 have slightly shifted the site of their nest. I may add to the account 

 of my former descent, that the quantity of loose pieces of rock made 

 it a tedious affair ; for I either had to kick them away before me, or so 

 to place the ropes as not to touch them. Without this precaution, 

 the descent would have been most dangerous. 



§ 417. 7%ree.— Inverness-shire, 3 May, 1851. "J. W. ipse." 



I took these in a Scotch-fir tree within four or five miles of Carr- 

 bridge. We had found the nest the day before, when the old Buzzard 

 flew off as we stood beneath. It was not accessible without ropes, 

 and even with their help I had great difiiculty in reaching it, as it 

 was on a horizontal branch. The keeper said the same nest was 

 occupied by a " Salmon-tailed Kite" [Milvus ictinus] the year before. 

 In the same forest I saw and climbed to not less than twenty old 

 nests ; but this was the only one with anything in it, though another 

 one was remade this year. According to the keepers, they always 



