284 A Trip to tJie Island of Hoy, [Sess. 



midnight, in the months of May, June, and July the "en- 

 chanted carbuncle " near the summit of the Ward Hill. It is 

 " something that shines and sparkles admirably " ; and though 

 many are said to have climbed the hill and searched for it, 

 nobody has ever yet found it. It is supposed to be caused by 

 water sliding down the face of a smooth rock. Again to use 

 the words of Noma of the Fitful Head : " Often when watch- 

 ing by the Dwarfie Stone with mine eyes fixed on the Ward 

 Hill, which rises above that gloomy valley, I have distinguished 

 among the dark rocks that wonderful carbuncle which gleams 

 ruddy as a furnace to them who view it from beneath, but 

 has ever become invisible to him whose daring foot has 

 scaled the precipice from which it darts its splendour." 



Facing the sound of Hoy is the Kame Eock, of echo-haunted 

 fame, already referred to. This precipice is 1160 feet in 

 height, and almost perpendicular, and here the eagle used to 

 build her nest. Many stories are recorded of the ravages of 

 eagles in Hoy. One is, that an eagle carried off a child to its 

 nest in the Kame Eock. Happily, the eyrie being known and 

 the bird instantly pursued, the child was found uninjured 

 playing with the young eagles. The absurdity of such a story 

 is apparent, and it is surprising how it ever came to be re- 

 corded. Those who have seen an eagle seize its prey, or have 

 looked on the tremendous precipice in question, must admit 

 that the story may be safely consigned to the region of 

 romance. Stories of a similar nature have from time to time 

 been recorded — oral tradition and superstition being both 

 difficult to eradicate from the minds of the Scottish people. 

 So recently as Saturday last a paragraph appeared in the 

 ' Peeblesshire Advertiser ' to the following effect : — 



" Attacked by an Eagle. — Mr James Sneddon, Elcho Street, Peebles, 

 states that while walking on the hills beyond the Drove Road, in the 

 direction of The Glen, on Sunday forenoon, a large eagle made a deter- 

 mined attack upon him, swooping down three times in quick succession. 

 Fortunately he had with him a stout walking-stick, with which he was 

 able to ward ofif the bird, which afterwards flew off in the direction, as 

 far as he could judge, of Manorhead. It is said that the eagle has been 

 seen in the district several times recently." 



It will be interesting to know if this eagle has been seen by 

 any practical ornithologist. 



