252 The Osprey 
Ospreys which come to nest on the islands of the big fresh-water 
lochs. 
These beautiful birds are still fairly common in the Straits of 
Gibraltar. A pair have nested at the back of the Rock from time 
immemorial and were duly noted by the Rev. John White in a 
letter to his famous brother of Selborne in 1776. I first saw their 
nest there in 1874, and have since then watched the old birds on 
innumerable occasions. In some years two pairs nest there and 
in one year very recently I watched three pairs on the wing together, 
but do not think more than two nested. 
Of the three sites | know one is not 4o ft. above the sea, 
on a ledge which is overhung by a big cliff some 3co ft. above 
it, and may be reckoned as inaccessible. A second site is in 
the same cliff and about 250 ft. above the sea. The third is in 
the roof of and near the entrance of one of the huge sea-caverns 
and is overhung. 
An excellent standing Garrison Order of the old Rock forbids 
the wild birds being molested, but the surest protection for the 
Ospreys is the difficulty of getting at their nests. 
I make no scruple about mentioning these nests since they are 
known to many. From one of the now disused old batteries near 
Europa Point the birds can be easily watched with a telescope on 
the nest, as can the young when they are hatched out. | spent one 
whole summer at ‘‘ The Cottage,” the summer residence of the 
Governor of Gibraltar, Watching the Ospreys both at their nests 
and when fishing in front of my windows formed not the least 
interesting of my duties as A.D.C. 
The sketch at the beginning of this chapter is a copy from one 
made at this time and the positions of the upper and lower nests on 
the overhanging cliff are indicated by the birds shown flying opposite 
to them. 
The persistency with which the Ospreys resort to these sites 
