AQUILA CHRYSAETUS. 



21 



is highly coloured) round it, and two young birds in the same state 

 mine was when it died {i.e. the one mentioned in § 26) : the eyes 

 have a dull watery look : one generally with eyes closed. They peck 

 feebly at my fingers. I read the above to G * * "^^ who is with me 

 in the nest. He assents to it all : ' it could not be correcter.' The 

 platform of the nest itself (i.e. of the top part) is about the width of 

 the cup every way, except towards the rock, where it is rather less ; 

 about two feet high outside ; the lining may be nine inches in per- 

 pendicular depth. The nest is, according to various computations, 

 from fourteen to sixteen feet from the slope of the hill below. The 

 old birds never show whilst we are at the nest. I blow the egg in the 

 nest. It is addled ; a sort of sour smell ; all liquid inside, and no 

 appearance of chick. I pack the broken shell by placing it on the 

 sound one as I found it in the nest. I do not wash, or, at least, rub, 

 the addled egg, which is a little soiled, but with one or two specks of 

 true colour." 



This egg is very like one Mr, Hancock has, as he himself re- 

 marked. The two young ones, covered with white down, had large 

 livid feet, with soft, oddly-shaped claws ; their legs are downy to the 

 very division of the toes, proving them to be Golden Eagles. They 

 cost me a great deal of trouble, even in the middle of the night 

 following, when I got up occasionally to keep up the peat-fire. They 

 ate Golden Plover that night — the first time, probably, they had 

 tasted anything. The next day they were so nearly dead of cold, that 

 I had to make a fire for them on the moors. They throve and grew 

 till an unlucky journey, during which I either overfed them or they 

 were shaken too much : they became ill, and died, after a lingering ill- 

 ness, between the 20th and 30th of May. They were then much grown, 

 but with nothing on but white down. I preserved parts in spirit. 



^ 28. 0«e.— Argyllshire, 24 April, 1851. "J. W, ipse." 



O. W. tab. iv. iig. 2. 



On the morning of 24th April, Mr. Edge and I started, having a 

 horse with the ropes round his neck, and a young man to take care 

 of him. We picked up three other men as we went along. This was 

 about seven or eight miles from our inn ; and we left the horse and 

 young man. We walked on a mile or two under a hot sun, till we 

 turned into a corrie on the right. Here we saw an Eagle taking a 

 long swooping flight directly down into a hollow out of sight, without 

 moving its wings, which were brought to a point. Presently we 

 crossed over the entrance of this den, and proceeded silently up the 



