The Land of the Hills and the Glens 



of the birch tree, incessantly uttering its soft musical alarm 

 note. It evidently was the possessor of a brood somewhere 

 in the neighbourhood, and I wondered whether it was the 

 same individual that had sung so energetically on the 

 occasion when I was at the eyrie in the first days of May. 



In the eagles' nest I found the fresh remains of a grouse, 

 a couple of rabbits, and the feet of a mountain hare. A 

 single branch of green heather, freshly pulled, had been 

 carried there by one of the parent birds with the object 

 of adorning the nest, which had certainly deteriorated from 

 its fresh and clean condition, and gave off a variety of 

 perfumes of a none too pleasant kind. 



While I was at the eyrie the parent eagle moved rest- 

 lessly across the hill-face opposite, and. at last alighted 

 on a raised piece of ground near the skyline, ruffling her 

 feathers as she felt the full force of the strong and cool 

 breeze, and peering anxiously around until, too restless to 

 remain inactive, she again took wing and crossed the 

 glen. I moved across to where the second eaglet was stand- 

 ing and almost stupidly surveying her new surroundings. 

 A wheatear was expressing its strongest disapproval at the 

 presence of the formidable intruder, and this disapproval 

 was shared by a mountain blackbird and a diminutive wren, 

 but the eaglet seemed quite unaware of the presence of those 

 whose fury she had aroused, nor did she mark the rabbits 

 of all sizes which scurried to their holes. As I approached, 

 the young eagle walked up the hillside in a slanting direc- 

 tion, holding outspread one of her splendid wings in order 

 the better to preserve her balance. I had ample oppor- 

 tunity of admiring the beauty of her plumage. On the 

 neck the feathers, of a rich red-brown, were scarcely fully 

 matured, and in her anger the eaglet repeatedly raised these 

 feathers till they stood out sharply, showing the white of 

 the down underlying them. The plumage of the back and 

 wings was of a dark grey-brown, each wing showing two 

 conspicuous patches of white, the central portions of the tail 



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