CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 



Structure, composed of coarse twigs ; the one I had 

 dealings with was Hned with rabbits' fur. The eggs, 

 generally three in number, are of a dirty white 

 colour, being blotched here and there, but sparsely, 

 with a sort of reddish-brown or lilac ; they vary a 

 good deal, too, in markings, some having hardly 

 any at all. 



Breeding takes place about the middle of April. 



While staying at Salen Hotel, Island of Mull, I 

 met with a gentleman who was passing through on his 

 way to Oban. He was the proprietor of one of the 

 islands in the neighbourhood called Ulva, and 

 hearing that the Buzzard bred on his property, and 

 that he used to pay his shepherd — a sort of general 

 keeper — sixpence for every young bird brought to 

 him, I thought he might give me permission. This 

 he readily did on my promise to confine myself 

 entirely to that species. I then put myself in touch 

 with the shepherd in question through the agency 

 of another man — one Peter McDougall, who acted 

 as keeper to any gentleman who rented the sporting 

 rights on the property from the owner, who was not 

 a sportsman. 



In a few days I got intimation from Peter that the 

 shepherd had located a Buzzard's nest in a cliff; so I 

 drove over to Ulva, a distance of 1 1 miles, Peter 

 meeting me with his boat to convey me across the 

 ferry — a distance of about 300 yards — which separ- 

 ated the island from the mainland. 



A five-mile walk over a hilly road brought me to 

 the shepherd's house. We then proceeded to the 



