ERNE. 



PLATE III. 



Haliaetus albicilla, SELBT. 



Falco dlbicilla, MONTAGU. GMELIN. 



Aquila albicilla, JENTNS. 



THE nest of the Erne is a large structure, or rather, in fact, at 

 least frequently so, after its fabrication in the first instance, a 

 superstructure, the original one being built upon from year to year. 

 It is as much as five feet wide, and very flat, having only a slight 

 hollow in the middle, and is a mas's of sticks, heather, or sea-weed, 

 as the case may be. These rough materials are arranged in as 

 rough a manner, being slovenly put together, and lined with any 

 such soft materials as the architects may be able to procure. It is 

 placed on some rocky precipice, or in the hollow of a crag or rock 

 overhanging the sea, or else in some inland natural fortress, such 

 as an island in the centre of a mountain lake, or sometimes on a 

 rock at the edge of one, whence the Erne 



-'from her care on high 



Casts on the rout her wondering eye.' 



The male bird takes his turn at incubation with the female. The 

 Erne is said to be less strongly attached to its haunts than the 

 Golden Eagle, but it seems to be in some degree fond of them, 

 and not unfrequently returns to the same breeding-places for several 

 years in succession; probably indeed nothing but some 'pressure 

 from without' would prevent its always doing so for the period of 

 its own natural life, and then transmitting it as an heirloom to its 

 descendants. 



As is the case with the rest of the tribe to which it belongs, 

 the eggs of the Sea Eagle are, by a merciful provision, few in 



