HALI^ETUS ALBICILLA. 57 



scream ; but I did not see her afterwards. At the second nest I had 

 to go down about twenty fathoms with the rope. The Eagle there was 

 not seen again after she got off. The nests were not at all like those 

 in the mountains ; they were made up of sea- weed and heather. In 

 the first I am sure there were the feet and heads of a thousand cor- 

 morants, with a great deal of fishes' bones about it. I cannot take 

 upon me to give a description of the wildness of these rocks, only my 

 hair gets strong when I think of them. After being at this place I 

 always felt some dizziness for two or three days. I should not like 

 to try them again, though they were not so ill to get at as the Golden 

 Eagle's of 27th April, 1819 [§ 26] . There were two eggs in each nest ; 

 but one I had the misfortune to lose ; it went down over thirty yards 

 of rock. I think those in each nest were laid within a day or two of 

 each other ; at least, I was not able to find any diflFerence in blowing 

 them. I had to take a man with me ; he was to provide ropes, but 

 I am sorry to say neither he nor they were to be depended on for 

 life one minute." 



§ 74. 0;?^.— Argyllshire, 1853. 



Received for me in 1853 by Mr. Edge. In 1851 there was pointed 

 out to us an island in a loch where the White-tailed Eagle had its 

 nest every year. It was in a tree. My guide believed that this 

 species never built in rocks ; he had known a good many of their 

 nests in islands, one quite on the ground, another or two five, and 

 some twenty feet up in a tree. He shot an Eagle belonging to this 

 loch once, before he knew that it had a nest there. Another time 

 the bird deserted because he climbed up and looked into the nest; 

 and once again she forsook her eggs, after having been shot at by a 

 gentleman. A boat is always kept on the loch. As my guide was once 

 swimming ofi" with some young Eagles, he was nearly drowned by 

 the old one making swoops close to him. He called to his man on 

 shore to fire, but she returned to the charge. After he had landed 

 she kept out of shot. 



[§ 75. Two.— Shetlmds, 1854. 



Received by me from a correspondent in tlie Shetlands, who states that the 

 nest was "in yery high and dangerous banks on the sea-coast of one of the 

 islands. There were two eggs, but on retui-ning from the nest the climber in 

 saving his own life, broke one of them."] 



[§ 76. 0;z^.— Shetlands, 1855. 



Eeceived from the same correspondent as the last, but it does not appear 

 whether from the same nest or even the same island.] 



