AQUILA CHRYSAETTJS. 63 



overhanging the nest so as to shelter it." He says — " A man 

 upon whose word I can rely offered to show me an old nest 

 placed upon the ground at the foot of a rock rising out of a 

 hillside, and near it, also upon the ground, the nest of a previous 

 year. Generally there is both soil and vegetation where the 

 nest is placed, with not unfrequently a small tree growing in 

 front of it. In many it is not more than twelve or twenty 

 feet above the ground, and a man can easily climb to it. There 

 is often a great precipice below and very little rock above the 

 nest." One was so close to the top that he climbed easily in 

 and out from the level ground above. Near this, in the same 

 ravine, there were three nests of other years, all accessible from 

 below without the aid of ropes. It is common for eagles to have 

 several places in different quarters, and they frequently repair 

 two or three nests before choosing in which to lay their eggs. The 

 same bird will select very different situations. A pair alternated 

 between a crag quite inaccessible and a corner into which a 

 child might climb. But besides this change of quarters the 

 exact site is often altered from year to year, so that three or 

 four nests of different ages may be seen within a few yards of 

 each other. He once saw a newly-repaired one besides the one 

 occupied. Yet some favourite eyries are used for ten, twelve, 

 or more years in succession. Eagles are not gregarious ; they 

 require too wide a field for themselves. Hence eaglets are 

 expelled by their parents when able to look after themselves. 

 In this apparent harshness the old birds yield obedience to a 

 wise and beneficent natural law, for no glen could supply the 

 wants of a family of full-grown eagles — an example which 

 might be followed by human parents, especially the crofters in 

 some of our Highland districts. 



Old Highlanders say there are rocks which have scarcely 

 been without eagles' nests in the memory of man. It is evident 

 that they are influenced more by the seclusion than the inac- 

 cessibility of the spot they select. They do not care for foxes, 

 which often make their earths so as to be conveniently near the 

 well-known larder. A more likely rock for an eyrie is a sub- 

 divided one, with grassy ledges and sheltered corners, than one 

 with a great perpendicular face ; although the two eggs which 

 Mr Hewitson selected for his "Coloured Illustrations" were 

 taken from an eyrie in a narrow crag several hundred feet in 

 height, where there was scarcely room to hold the nest. Mr 

 Wolley also knew of two or three similarly placed — all of which 

 only show that birds, like men, are not uniform in their tastes. 



