210 THE BIRDS OF IONA AND MULL. 



opportunities of becoming familiar with either kind. We always sup- 

 posed that they held their royal court and had their nurseries in the 

 isle of Skye, whose lofty peaks form part of the marine panorama on 

 our northern horizon. My friend M'Vean has had a tamed one for 

 some years, which is not kept in confinement, but sometimes startles 

 strangers by swooping past the windows. He says — " My eagle I 

 named Honival, after the hill in South Uist where he was hatched. 

 He is a male, and a very fine bird. I have had him now for four 

 years, and he has assumed his white tail. He is allowed to fly about 

 at large, but is not fond of going far, and will always come at the call 

 of the kitchen-maid who feeds him, and for whom he shows the greatest 

 affection, and who can manage him even when in most ungovernable 

 tempers. He has a particular aversion to small boys, and will fly 

 at one going near him. The only animal he is afraid of is the pig, 

 and to hear a pig grunt is enough to make him fly off, even if it 

 should not be in sight. A well-dressed friend ventured one day to 

 touch him with the point of his fashionable light umbrella, which so 

 offended Ronival's majesty that he flew at the offending instrument 

 and literally smashed it, breaking the stick and tearing the silk to 

 tatters, the owner gladly escaping in unscathed broadcloth himself, 

 at the expense of leaving his pet paraphiie a spolia opima in the claws 

 of Jove's irate bird. Usually, however, he is affable enough, and 

 does no more mischief than occasionally killing a hen or two if his 

 own dinner is not served up punctually enough ; and this is really great 

 forbearance, considering he actually lives at large in a poultry yard. 

 This proves how very domestic this monarch of the cliffs may become, 

 that though a short-winged flight would carry him to the illimitable 

 freedom of the neighbouring sea cliffs and mountain tops, he has 

 never been known to ' stop out of nights ' more than once or twice 

 during several years' residence." 



The Peregrine. 



Is frequently seen along the coast hunting for ducks, rock pigeons, 

 and sea gulls (if they were not flying over the water), but I never 

 discovered any nesting place, though I have seen the old birds hunting 

 at the time of the year when they might be supposed to have nestlings. 

 The presence of a peregrine is often announced by an unusual clamour 



