96 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds 
And, thirdly, the close proximity of the New Forest, a perfect 
paradise for the ornithologist and insect-hunter. 
To begin at once with the subject-matter of this paper. I propose 
to confine my remarks at present to the Raptores, or “ Birds ot 
Prey,” which occur in the neighbourhood—though I must begin 
with an exception, and ask pardon if for once I desert my local ex- 
periences, and run off as far as the shores of Great Britain will allow 
me, even to the top of Sutherlandshire, which does zo¢ abut on 
Wilts. But I cannot refrain, inasmuch as I have gathered some 
reliable information concerning the king of birds, Aguila Chrysaetos 
“the Golden Eagle,’ which must, I think, be satisfactory to all 
lovers of ornithology. This noble bird, I am glad to say, still re- 
tains his throne securely in the North of Scotland, and in the county 
of Sutherland is not yet uncommon. An intimate friend of mine, 
who spent some time in that county last year, himself saw one ; and 
was told that there were four well-known eyries still existing in one 
part of the county; and that the Duke had given strict orders to 
his keepers that the eagles were no longer to be molested in any 
way, so that now they are being strictly preserved there. My friend, 
in the course of his wanderings, saw one of the keepers, who had a 
fine young Golden Eagle, alive, which he had captured shortly before 
this order of the Duke was given—and he told him that not very 
long before he had trapped no less than ten eagles within a week. 
My friend also fell in with another keeper, who had since turned 
publican, who said that some few years previous to this, he had des- 
troyed nineteen or twenty eagles within a month. Now even if we 
allow something for exaggeration, and that possibly some of these 
birds may have been the young of the “ White-tailed Hagle,” 
(Halizetus albicilla) it leaves a large and trustworthy margin for the 
inference that Aguila Chrysaetos still holds its own in our British 
Isles. And when we think of the wholesale slaughter that up to 
the present time has been committed in its ranks (as, for example, 
I read in the “ Naturalists’ Library ” that between March, 1831, 
and March, 1834, no less than one hundred and fifty-one adult birds, 
with fifty-three young and eggs, were destroyed in the county of | 
‘Sutherland alone), I am sure my brother ornithologists will rejoice 
