46 HALI^ETUS ALBICILLA. 



Where swimming is necessary, it is often an affair of danger, as the 

 birds will do their best to drown the enemy with their wings ; but 

 when once he is out of the water, they have the discretion to keep 

 their distance. In two spots I have seen large Scotch Firs, not on 

 islands, which have been formerly tenanted by Sea Eagles. One was 

 by the side of a loch ; but the other was several miles away from any 

 piece of water, in a sort of open wood of similar trees. The nest had 

 been in a fork where three branches met, perhaps twenty high. In 

 other cases, as might be expected, it is the main trunk which bears 

 the weight of the nest. In one instance, the crossed and nearly hori- 

 zontal trunks of two small trees formed the support. Another, that 

 I have already spoken of, was in a small alder-tree, and had been 

 repaired and often frequented by the Eagles the season I saAV it ; yet 

 a Hooded Crow had eggs in the upper branches, and Wild Geese and 

 Ducks were sitting in the deep moss and long heather within twenty 

 yards. I have not myself met with an instance of a Golden Eagle build- 

 ing in a tree or on a sea-cliff, but, on the other hand, several of a Sea- 

 Eagle building on a rock inland, many miles from the ocean. Two 

 such nests, within ten miles of the sea, that I visited, were in small 

 rocks of easy approach, in every respect like Golden Eagles', and in one 

 the hen showed the same unmllhigness to fly off her eggs. This 

 eyrie was in a low place, in the bosom, as it were, of high crags, not 

 indeed quite accessible without a rope, but you could get very near it 

 from above or below. As we approached the place, two Ravens came 

 out to meet us, which we thought a bad omen ; but presently a white 

 tail showed against the grey rock, and the cock bird was seen slowly 

 flapping off. It was an anxious moment ; but he began to turn back, 

 and we knew all was right. The nest was very conspicuous, partly 

 supported by the trunk of a Kowan-tree. The site of the other eyrie 

 could scarcely be said to be a rock at all, but rather a rocky bank or 

 ' hanger,' overgrown with small trees. The nest, placed in a sort of 

 great chair of rock, was perfectly accessible from any direction, right 

 or left, above or below ; and a man could get within a yard or two 

 from above without in the least disturbing the bird. I went into 

 it on 25th May [1849] ; and at that time it was regularly occupied 

 by the Eagle, as was evident from the fresh droppings on every side, 

 and from the very recent castings lying in the nest. Yet there were no 

 eggs or young; and no man had been there, or he must have left 

 some trace of his visit on the young nettles or other tender herbage 

 growing near. A water-spaniel accompanied me into the nest. It 

 had had young ones the previous season ; and two eggs were taken 

 from it the following year, 1850. The whole scene would have 



