THE MOUNTAIN HARE. 71 



mon lowland hare, this animal (Lepus albus) hops quietly 

 from before the dog's nose, and stops to sit erect on the very 

 first hillock she meets with within a hundred yards of the 

 dogs. When again approached she repeats the same trick, 

 and frequently remains for a quarter of an hour going 

 slowly in front of the dogs, and sitting up on her hind legs 

 in full view of them ; in this manner not only tainting the 

 ground with her scent, but as it were challenging the dogs 

 to a trial of speed. Notwithstanding the good training one 

 would suppose the inhabitants of the mountain ought to be 

 in, they are easily run down even by a quick colley dog. I 

 know of some grouse shootings where these hares have in- 

 creased to such an extent, owing to the destruction of 

 vermin, that they have been killed by hundreds in a day, 

 and are shot down at all seasons as a nuisance. A few 

 eagles on such ground would be of great service. 



When mountain hares are not to be had by the eagles, 

 they feed more on carrion, such as dead sheep, than birds, a 

 good-sized dead animal of this kind being far more suited to 

 the ravenous appetite of a golden eagle than a small bird 

 like a grouse; and in the sheep districts there must be a 

 constant supply, owing to accidents and disease. 



In the month of May I saw the nest of an osprey on the 

 very summit of the old castle built on a point of land (some- 

 times an island) in Loch Assynt. The nest was then tenant- 

 less, and had been so for two or three years. On my return 

 in June, I was much pleased at seeing one osprey on the 

 nest, and another failing over the loch. 



Though the osprey is, generally speaking, so rare in Britain, 

 it frequents this locality, which seems particularly to suit it. 

 Large tracts of the country here are almost unseen by human 

 beings from one end of the year to the other. Covered with 

 grey rocks, and broken up into a succession of small hollows, 

 in most of which there are lochs, all abounding in trout, this 

 district is exactly suited for the osprey, while it is unfit for 

 any other animal ; the sheep remain more on the extensive 

 and grassy slopes, where they not only find plenty of food, 

 but are more under the eye and protection of mankind. A 

 shepherd in the broken, rocky tracts of country can have no 

 chance of finding or seeing his flock; while, at the same time, 

 the pasturage is worth but little, consisting wholly of rank 

 heather. Nor is the ground at all better adapted for the 

 grouse shooter, as he would never keep sight of his dogs for 



