42 Proceedings of the 



and unanimously carried that Mr. Tjndall be requested to accept the office 

 of President of the Club for the remainder of the present term. 



Mr. J. B. Crosfield read a paper entitled "Notes on the Nesting of the 

 Golden Eagle," as follows : — In the course of two visits to Sutherland, I 

 have had some opportunity of observing nests of the golden eagle, and of 

 inspecting two of them pretty closely. My first introduction to the eyry of 

 this splendid bird was in 1875 on the occasion of the first of the above 

 mentioned visits to that wild county, which is ornithologically perhaps the 

 most interesting in this island to a lover of birds, who enjoys visiting and 

 observing our native species in their own homes, and is not contented with 

 mere skins or with reading the records of others. On that occasion we 

 happened to fall in with two shepherds, who told us they knew of an eagle's 

 nest four or five miles off in which there was a young eagle. The afternoon 

 was then well advanced, and our visit to the nest would involve a subse- 

 quent walk of some eight miles over the mountains, the latter part of which 

 would probably have to be performed in the dark over country we were not 

 then acquainted with in order to reach the quarters for which we were 

 bound. However, we decided at once in favour of the nest, and put our- 

 selves under the guidance of the shepherds. They took us to a deep, rather 

 narrow valley with very steep sides, thotigh not absolutely precipitous. 

 Indeed in most parts, by a little selection of one's ground in ' advance, one 

 could find a way up or down. I should estimate the height of the cliff 

 at about 1,000ft. The nest was about half-way up, and was built against 

 the face of a perpendicnlar rock, supported underneath by large stems of 

 growing ivy, and perhaps also by some projecting rock. The approach to it 

 was not difficult, involving little that could be called climbing. The nest 

 was large enough to admit of three of us standing in it at once ; it wa.s 

 about 6ft. by 4^f t., and consisted of a great mass of sticks, chiefly birch and 

 mountain ash, ivy stems and heather, filled up with a variety of smaller 

 materials, such as dead rushes, twigs, drc. One stick of mountain ash was 

 nearly six feet long, and about an inch thick. We were told that the nest had 

 then existed for at least twenty -two years ; and as it was used by the birds 

 last year, it has now been there for twenty-six years, and how much longer 

 we do not know. If there ever had been any depression in the middle of the 

 nest, it has doubtless long since been filled up by the accumulations of 

 successive years ; at the time of our visit it was a perfectly flat platform. 

 The nest contained a number of legs of hares and portions of grouse; and 

 one of the shepherds told us he had lately seen the legs of a lamb there. 

 The young bird was a beautiful creature, completely clothed in soft white 

 down, through which a few quill feathers were just sprouting. The toes and 

 bare skin round the beak were pale yellow and soft like kid. Beak and 

 claws seemed alreadj^ strong and well developed ; they were horn coloured. 

 We judged that the bird weighed about five or sis pounds, and had reason 

 to believe it might be from a month to six weeks old. The shepherd said it 

 would be nearlj' two months before it would be fledged sufficiently to leave 

 the nest, and before that time he intended to take it to sell. Just below 



