100 FALCO PEREGRINUS. 



house pointed out to me the place where a Falcon's nest had been 

 last year. I picked up a bit of the shell of an egg, probably robbed 

 within a day or two by the Grey Crows. On the 23rd I made an 

 easy climb to a Falcon's nest, apparently quite new, near the top of 

 the cliff. There w^as a very broad way to it. The nest was hollowed 

 out to some depth in the tiirf of a ledge. One dry bone formed the 

 principal lining. A bit of rock projected sharply into the bottom, so 

 that it had probably not been used. The old birds were flying in the 

 distance with the usual cry of anger, the wings flapping quickly, but 

 little advance made_, the humeri being apparently compressed to the 

 sides. 



On the 28th of April I walked, with a man to act as guide and to 

 carry the thin rope, to a very low rock overlooking a loch, at perhaps 

 a quarter of a mile from its west shore. A high road, little fre- 

 quented, however, may be a couple of hundred yards from the rock, 

 between it and the lake. The rock had a good deal of vegetation, 

 including ivy, about it ; and I climbed about from above for some little 

 time, till I began to think my informant was wrong, and the nest not 

 there, when out dashed the Falcon, like an arrow, very near me. I had 

 to go below to get at the nest. As I climbed, both birds flew about 

 at a considerable height, with their sharp, quickly repeated cry. I 

 reached the nest, which was in a retiring, much-sheltered corner, 

 without a rope. 



"It is not more than eighteen or twenty feet from the ground, 

 on a little platform, with a tree in front, and a great deal of the same 

 Luzula that was in the Eagle's nest [§ 26] here growing. The 

 whole platform may be four feet square ; the bare place for the nest 

 eighteen inches. The nest is made of little fragments of sticks and a 

 multitude of bones, chiefly birds' of various kinds, but also two or 

 three sheep-bones, probably brought to construct it with, also many 

 little bits of stone, apparently fi'om the rock itself." 



I have little doubt that these bones were so brought, as they were 

 used in the actual construction of the nest, though they certainly had 

 the appearance of being raked together, and they might be only 

 the remains of the rapine of former years brought to that spot to 

 feed the young. There were four eggs in the nest, quite new-laid. 

 "Whilst at a Buzzard's nest, a few hundred yards ofl", on the same 

 day, one of the Falcons came up, peering about at a good height ; 

 and it remained quite motionless overhead, so that my man ofiered 

 to bet me it was the " Glead ;" but when it began to move its 

 wings he acknowledged his mistake. Further on we came to a very 

 low rock in ledges, over the whole of which we could walk. My 



