Laer<s] 
Enetanp :—Durham; Northampton; Devon; Kent; Metropolitan Police District 
including London and Middlesex ; Somerset; Wilts. 
Wates :— Pembroke. 
Scortanp :—Dumfries; Elgin; Kirkcudbright ; Wigtown. 
Wild Birds Protection Act, 1894.—The eggs are protected (1896) in the following 
counties :— 
Ewnatanp :—Gloucester; Leicester; Stafford; Warwick; Devon; Kent; Metropolitan 
Police District, including London and Middlesex. 
ScorLtanp :—Dumbarton ; Dumfries; Elgin; Kirkcudbright ; Wigtown. 
Wild Birds Protection Act, 1896.—In addition to any penalty under the Act of 1880, 
the Court may now order any trap, net, snare, etc., used by the offender, to be forfeited. 
The Osprey is protected throughout the whole year in the county of Middlesex. 
Note.—The eggs are not protected specially by any County Council’s adoption 
cf the Act, because none of the counties where the species is found nesting have 
adopted the Act. To protect the species thoroughly the Act would have to be adopted in all 
the counties, not only where it breeds now, but also in all the counties where it formerly bred. 
And its further protection should be provided for in many English and Scottish counties 
through which it passes on migration. Dumbartonshire has wisely profited in this respect, 
and that example should be followed by others. 
It receives, however, private and personal protection at its nesting-haunts, which, how- 
ever, is in great degree rendered vain by the selfishness of collectors and shore-poppers, and 
even, in some instances,. the undiscriminating game preservers—we cannot call them 
“sportsmen”’ in the best and truest sense of the word. 
VII. Remarks. 
The history of Scottish Ospreys goes back into the last century, whence. the 
chronology of their dates, with here and there a hiatus, extends down to the present 
time. That is to say, we have sufficiently continuous data to mark distinctly their almost, 
if not quite, continuous occupation of many sites in Scotland. But at the present day these 
numerous sites, principally by the cupidity of private collectors, have been long deserted, and 
the places that once knew these fine and harmless birds know them no longer, and the 
glory has departed from many an ancient stronghold. It is not necessary here to go into 
chronological detail of the occupancy of all of these sites, but we desire to speak of one or 
two only, and of these very shortly. 
The earlier writers—Pennant and others—and the old Statistical Account mention the 
Ospreys of West and East Inverness-shire; and early in the nineteenth century Colonel 
Thornton also speaks of their rarity even then—so far as he knew—and of the presence of 
Ospreys in Glenmore. The geologist MacCulloch also spoke of them in Rothiemurchus in 
1824; and links of evidence of their continuance there are easily picked up by those who have 
made special study and enquiry, running almost uninterruptedly from 1843 (Carruthers) 
to 1852. A break in chronology then occurs,—but not necessarily in occupancy,—but we find 
again records in 1879 and 1880, perhaps continuously down to 1888, when, we ascertain, that 
