186 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 



in the wintry fastnesses of the Scottish Highlands. The 

 eggs are normally two in number ; three are sometimes 

 found ; and there are a very few authentic records of 

 four. The ground-colour is dull white, and the thinly 

 scattered, irregular markings may be grayish, yellowish, 

 or reddish broA^Ti. We believe that it is usual to find 

 one well-marked and one almost plain egg forming a 

 clutch ; but which is laid first does not seem to be on 

 record. 



A magnificent series of photographs of Golden Eagles 

 at their nests in a Scottish ' corrie ' has recently been 

 published in book -form. The pictures were taken from 

 a hiding-place at close quarters, giving splendid oppor- 

 tunities for study, and many interesting observations are 

 described in the text. We are told how the parent- 

 birds brought Grouse and Rabbits to their offspring, 

 having first plucked them elsewhere, and how at first 

 the young bird (only one survived) was fed by the 

 mother-bird on titbits, such as the liver, while she ate 

 the rest ; and so on with all the details in the daily 

 ' round ' of the first eleven weeks of the Eaglefs life. 

 Then it forsakes the eyrie, but it is still protected and 

 fed for some two months longer. And finally the de- 

 voted parents, who for five long months have tended 

 their off'spring with loving care, turn on him as a foe 

 and drive him forth into the outer world. 



Many stories there are of the Eagle's ferocity, and 

 its attacks on human beings near its nest ; but what- 

 ever the truth of these, the testimony of the careful 

 observer referred to is that 'of all our shy birds the 

 Eagle is the most timid, and generally remains out of 

 sight for an hour or more if disturbed from its nest,' 

 which, in the early stages, it is even prone to desert 

 entirely. 



