42 AQUILA CHRYSAETUS. 



bird from tliis nest ; but though he succeeded in getting immediately below 

 and within a few yards of it, he missed her clean with both barrels ! After 

 that, it was for a long time untenanted, and Mr. Wolley never visited it. Last 

 year a pair of Eagles took possession of it, and hatched off their two young- 

 ones, which my guide, when he went to ascertain if there was not a rotten egg- 

 left, saw flying from one rock to another, the parents " waiting on," We 

 went first to the western knoll, from which, in former times, the hen could be 

 seen as she sat on the nest. Here we lay down on the ground and got out 

 our glasses, but we could not discover her. My guide began to have mis- 

 givings lest he had been deceived, though a fortnight or so before he had seen 

 an Eagle sitting about on the rocks close by. We could, however, make out 

 the nest. The hill seemed to slope up -within a very little (about fifteen feet, as 

 I afterwards found) of the low cliff", on the top of which grew some small birch- 

 trees. The nest was on a ledge -with overhanging slabs, almost like the recess 

 in which the one I had just come from was situated, but it was more exposed. 

 We then went on, and, a few steps further, off" went the bird, which continued 

 long in sight, flying slowly away over the lochs to the northward, till we lost 

 her behind some rising ground. We took the pony to the foot of the low cliftj 

 which looked very easy imtil we came to try it. My guide took off" his shoes, 

 and, getting on to a ledge, I, -with his assistance from above, and, from below, 

 that of a lad who had joined us, followed. He then crawled along (for we 

 could not stand upright) some three or four yards, and peeped into the nest ; 

 but he was not able to see its contents until, -with one of my walking-sticks, 

 he had pulled away some of its outworks. He then, to my delight, annoimced 

 that the eggs were unhatched. I had some difficulty in passing him on the 

 narrow ledge, for I wanted to take the eggs out myself, and I hardly know 

 how we managed it ; but, the lad holding him up from below, he slipped back, 

 and I raked the eggs out, one at a time, with the handle of my stick, and gave 

 them to him, he handing them in his turn to the lad, who placed them in a 

 safe nook below. The ledge suddenly terminated, so that no one could get 

 into the nest. I then retreated cautiously, for the rocks were very wet and 

 slippery, besides being overgro-wn -with Polypody and Bilberry, Avhich was not 

 firm enough to hold on by. My guide then went before and beyond me, so 

 that I dropped do-wn nearly on the place whence I had climbed up; but 

 just as I got do-wn I had an a-wful fright, seeing him fly through the air 

 past me, and go do-wn the slope at a fearful rate. Fortunately he was brought 

 up by a big stone before he got very far, and gTeatly relieved me by bursting 

 into a laugh. The tuft of plants on which he had been relying had given way 

 without warning. I had not time to think of the eggs. He must have passed 

 right over, though a long way above them. He first struck the ground where 

 my coat and his shoes were laid, and sent them all spinning a long way down 

 the hill. Fortunately no hann came to him, or to anything. The moral of 

 this long story is, that a low nest may be far worse than a high one. I confess 

 I should not have liked it at all, had it been higher up. 



The eggs have a rather imusual appearance. The one figured here has a Buz- 

 zard-like character, -with a few rather large markings of deep red, some of them 

 running into lines, the others roundish ; the spots at the larger end on a white 

 groimd, discoloured however by dirt or damp. This specimen I am glad to 

 have, as there was nothing at all like it before in the series. It was so much 

 soiled that I ventured to wash it, though of course very carefully. The other 



