ANOTHER OSPREY'S NEST. 67 



of partaking of Mr. M'lvor's hospitality at six o'clock ; and I 

 must say that after living so many days at small inns where 

 I could, and how I could, an evening spent in the agreeable 

 society of Mr. M'lvor and the ladies at his house was a treat, 

 as I had begun to feel like an uncivilized being. 



On leaving the island we again saw the white cat seated 

 on the same point of rock, and still looking anxiously towards 

 the mainland. 



Limited in size as the island of Handa is, it seems to con- 

 tain a fine range of rich herbage, with a gentle slope to the 

 south, and to be capable of feeding a considerable number of 

 sheep or cattle. I was told, however, that much loss is 

 sustained from the animals falling over the rocks, when they 

 are inevitably dashed to pieces 



CHAPTER VII. 



Another Osprey's Nest ; Variety of Eggs Golden Eagle ; Manner of 

 Hunting ; "Decrease of Egg Collectors Mr. Hancock's Collection- 

 Nests of Eagles ; Animals Killed by The Mountain Hare Fishing of. 

 Osprey. 



Two miles from Scowrie, on the Ehiconnich road or near it, 

 is a loch where the ospreys build, and where, in May, I shot 

 the old hen, taking at the same time two eggs. Mr. Dunbar, 

 with his usual perseverance, went to this nest immediately 

 on our return from Handa, and found that the male bird had 

 got another mate, and that she was already busily employed 

 in sitting on a single egg. 



It is very difficult to describe correctly the eggs of many 

 birds : for instance, the two eggs which I took from this nest 

 were beautifully marked with tine rich red spots, while the 

 egg now taken by Dunbar was of a dirty white colour, 

 marked at one end only by a splash of brown, and was also 

 smaller than the others. In another nest, again, the eggs 

 were considerably larger than either of these, and differently 

 marked both as to colour and shape of spots. In the same 

 manner one reads the description of the size of birds as being 

 measured to inches and sixteenths of an inch, but the authors 

 forget or are not aware of the constant difference of size in 

 birds of the same species. 



We also examined the nest that we had seen in May last 

 near the ferry of Glendha, or Kyleska as it is also called. 



