HALI^ETUS ALBICILLA. 47 



made a charming picture. It may be the force of fancy, but most 

 Eagle-stations appear to me to be in extremely picturesque situations, 

 and worth going any distance to see. 



On the coasts, the Sea-Eagle chooses a roomy and generally shel- 

 tered ledge of rock. The egg which Mr. Hewitson figures [Eggs 

 B. B. ed. 3. pi. iv. fig. 2] is one of two Avhicli I took on the 23rd 

 April, 1849, on one of the most northern points of our island. The 

 nest was very slightly made of a little grass and fresh heather, loosely 

 put together without any sticks ; but two or three Miek' -stalks were 

 strewn about outside. There was a good thickness of guano-like 

 soil upon the rock, which made much nest unnecessary. Two or 

 three Guillemot's beaks, the only unmanageable part of that bird, 

 were not far off. The eggs were laid two days before, when I Ment to 

 reconnoitre ; and I never shall forget the forbearance which a friend 

 who was with me showed, at my request, as he lay gun in hand with 

 the hen Eagle in full vicAv upon her nest not forty yards below him. 

 Her head was towards the clift^ and concealed from our sight, whilst 

 her broad back and white tail, as she stood bending over her nest on 

 the grassy ledge, with the beautiful sandstone rock and the sea 

 beyond, completed a picture rarely to be forgotten. But our ears 

 and the air we breathe give a finish to nature's pictures which no art 

 can imitate ; and here were the ' efi^ects ' of the sea, and the heather, 

 and the rocks, the fresh warmth of the northern sun, and the excite- 

 ment of exercise, while the musical yelping of the male Eagle came from 

 some stand out of our sight. Add to all this the innate feeling of delight 

 connected with the pursuit of wild animals, which no philosopher has 

 yet been able to explain further than as a special gift of our Great 

 Maker, and then say whether it is not almost blasphemy to call such 

 a scene a ' picture ' ! Upon this occasion, I made some remark to my 

 friend, when the hen Eagle showed her clear eye and big yellow beak, 

 her head full of the expression of Avild nature and freedom. She 

 gave us a steady glance, then sprang from the rock, and with " slow 

 winnowing wing" — the flight-feathers turning upwards at every 

 stroke — was soon out at sea. Joined by her mate, she began to sail 

 with him in circles further and further away, till quite out of sight, 

 yelping as long as we could hear them, — Gulls mobbing them all 

 the time. To enjoy the beauties of a wild coast in perfection, let me 

 recommend any man to seat himself in an Eagle's nest. The year 

 before this, I took the young ones out of the same eyrie, late in July. 

 It was my first attempt at an Eagle's stronghold, and I shall never 

 forget the interest of the whole aflair : — a thunderstorm coming on 

 just before, making it necessary to cut drains in the peat Avith our 



