18 HILL BIRDS OF SCOTLAND 



from her nest at least two hours, possibly longer, yet one 

 of the eggs hatched out successfully, though the other — 

 whether owing to this or to another cause — was addled 

 when I climbed to the nest a month later. 



On fine sunny days the eagle sometimes leaves her 

 eyrie for a few minutes, to stretch herself and perhaps to 

 reconnoitre also. I was once watching an eyrie from a 

 distance of 200 yards, when I saw the eagle leave her 

 nest and rise almost perpendicularly into the air. This 

 evolution of hers caused the greatest perturbation amongst 

 the grouse of the hillside who rose in a body and fled at 

 top speed over the brow of the hill. Having assured her- 

 self that all was well, the eagle settled herself on her eggs 

 and fell so fast asleep that even when I stood at the foot 

 of the tree and whistled, it took her some time to realise 

 all was not well and to thrust her head inquiringly over 

 the edge of the nest. 



A season rarely passes without the parent eagle ex- 

 periencing at least one storm of snow during her period of 

 incubation. If her nest is built on a tree, such a storm, 

 as I said before, has no danger for her, but if she has 

 her eyrie on a rock, she may be obliged to leave her eggs 

 owing to the great depth of snow which is drifted in upon 

 the sheltered ledge by the force of the storm. I have 

 certainly never known this to happen, but I once saw an 

 eagle covering her eyrie when an average depth of over two 

 feet of snow lay on the hillside ; and if this great storm 

 had been accompanied by heavy drifting, I doubt whether 

 the eagle could have held her ground. There are many 

 ideal nesting sites for the Golden Eagle among the gloomy 

 precipices of the Cairngorms, but these sites are not 

 utilised — ^for the reason, I think, that the snow lies too 

 deeply on the rocks during the months of March and 

 April. There is only one eagle's nest I know of at a 

 greater elevation than 3000 feet, and I suspect that 



