20 LOCH CRERAN. 



our youth, covered the jelly can with flannel, without 

 any idea whatever of the necessary perforations, through 

 which the water could be aerated. The result in the 

 morning was a dead leech, whose teeth remained 

 unexamined, and whose life had fallen a sacrifice to 

 ignorance and want of care. 



William led the way to a little door with a quiet smile 

 the other day, and we followed and entered into the 

 small apartment, without any idea of our friends' object. 

 Not until we entered the little place did we appreciate 

 the occupants. For, squatting on a small bundle of straw 

 in a corner, was a splendid specimen of a young golden 

 eagle, little more than a month old, and yet with the 

 making of a magnificent bird. Near by on a hamper, 

 and within the same, three young hawks were disporting 

 themselves, and seeking to act as if that point of the 

 world, at least, was theirs to do what they liked with. 

 One of the three had wandered in its youthful egotism 

 into the immediate proximity of the eagle, only to have 

 one great foot extended, which catching the bold 

 youngster in its grasp, soon drew a quantity of blood 

 from its torn side and wing. The great stretch of wing, 

 while the fluff had not yet disappeared from the plumage 

 of the eagle, the huge and evidently prematurely 

 completed foot, and its asserting its claim to lord it over 

 all minor birds of prey, were noticeable features. The 

 bird was taken from the face of a cliff in Kingairloch, by 

 a young man who went over the edge of the cliff for some 

 1 6 feet one of the eaglets falling out of the nest and 

 perishing on the rocks below. Six lambs had at least 

 been consumed, as the legs of that number were found, 

 along with half a hare, in the nest, so it was easy to 

 understand that while the gamekeeper was desirous of 



