54 HILL BIRDS OF SCOTLAND 



Misfortunes, however, were not long in overtaking 

 them. There has always been a certain class of egg- 

 collectors which does not seem to rest content until it has 

 secured a clutch of eggs of all our most rare British birds, 

 and it is largely owing to these people that the Osprey is 

 on the verge of extinction. The Loch an Eilan Ospreys had 

 a considerable amount of protection afforded them, but 

 unless a night watcher had been stationed on the main- 

 land opposite the nesting site, it would have been im- 

 possible to have protected the eggs at all efficiently. 

 There was a certain daring individual who swam across 

 to the island one dark night, when six inches of snow 

 covered the ground. Clambering with difficulty up the 

 snow-covered ruins, he secured the two eggs which the 

 nest contained. But he now discovered that his cap, 

 in which he had intended to carry back his treasures, 

 had been left on the bank, and the water, with its temper- 

 ature near freezing-point, was too cold to allow of a second 

 journey. He thereupon took an egg in each hand, and 

 using his legs only to keep him afloat, he was dragged back 

 by an accomplice by means of a rope he had carried over 

 on his outward swim. Half-way back he was seized with 

 cramp but was pulled safely ashore after what, it must 

 be confessed, was an act requiring no little courage. On 

 another occasion the same man made a successful raid, 

 and besides securing the eggs, nearly succeeded in captur- 

 ing the mother bird, for his hand touched her before she 

 realised his proximity, and flew screaming from the nest. 

 It is said that the Osprey will lay a second time provided 

 she has sat only a day or two on her eggs, but as many of 

 the clutches taken have contained quite well-grown young, 

 it is certain that these pairs made no attempt at rearing a 

 second family. In a recent work by a well-known Scottish 

 naturalist, the suggestion is advanced that we should follow 

 the example of our cousins in America and should erect, 



