x PREFACE 



The photographs of the Golden Eagle and 

 Ptarmigan are, I venture to think, if not unique, 

 at least almost so. To obtain the photograph 

 of the eyrie of the Golden Eagle, a ladder and 

 rope had to carried up the hill. When this 

 was done, it was found that the ladder was not 

 long enough to reach the first branch of the 

 pine tree on which the eyrie was built. Accord- 

 ingly, when I had climbed as high as possible, 

 the keeper raised the ladder and supported it 

 on his chest, thus adding several feet to its 

 length, and enabling me to gain a foot- 

 hold on the branch from which I obtained 

 the photograph, the camera being hauled up 

 afterwards by the rope. The photographing of 

 the eyrie was rather a risky proceeding, for the 

 camera was in constant danger of falling to the 

 ground, and the branch on which I was standing 

 was old and rotten in the extreme, but luckily held 

 my \veight. 



Although I have been exceptionally fortunate 

 as regards weather conditions while photograph- 

 ing and studying the birds of the mountain at 

 their haunts, a friend and I had rather an excit- 

 ing experience last April on Ben Muich Dhui, 

 4,300 feet above sea level, and the second highest 

 mountain in our Island. At this season of the 

 year, the hill is more deeply covered with snow than 

 at any other time, and when we made the ascent, 

 all the burns were completely bridged over by 

 the snow wreaths, while every lochan.was thickly 

 coated with ice. On reaching the cairn on the top, 

 the weather, which hitherto had been mild and 

 spring-like, changed completely, the wind veering 

 to the north, while thick mist, accompanied by a 



