HIGHLAND HAUNTS OF EAGLES 183 



On the 13th a party of four we start betimes 

 for another eagle-rock. A stiff, seven-mile moor- 

 land walk carries us to a crest facing the lower 

 slopes of a mountain. Now, at last, down hill, 

 still down, into a deep ravine ; then a short, but 

 fearfully steep pull up the other side, then down 

 hill again for a couple of miles. Then we take a 

 breather on the summit of the glenside in the 

 opposite face of which, in some giant bluffs, 

 Eagles have bred time out of mind. Yet there 

 is no sign of them, though our presence three 

 hundred yards away would not always be suffi- 

 cient to drive an Eagle from her nest. It should 

 be, however, for recollect we were in full view 

 of all the known sites, remember, too, that, 

 although Eagles often sit very closely indeed, 

 this generally happens when they have caught 

 no sight of an intruder. In fact, that is the 

 secret of most species which brood closely. 

 Noise they can frequently stand, but not the 

 human presence or eye. Glassing the bluffs, how- 

 ever, and one big one in particular, the keeper 

 through his telescope cleverly detects in an obvious 

 eagle's nest two whitish objects which appear too 

 regular and round for lumps of snow, masses of 

 which, still being unmelted, suggest Christmas in 

 the so-called good old times. Opinions are divided, 

 but the only means of reading the riddle is to cross 

 the glen and climb the crag if we can. Well, 

 we can, in spite of having hardly any rope with 



