THE WHITE-TAILED EAGLE 25 



until they are able to fly, a period of quite six weeks, and 

 after that they are still tended by their parents for some time. 



The White -tailed Eagle only rears one brood in the 

 season, and if the first clutch of eggs be taken another is 

 usually laid. I am of opinion that many White-tailed Eagles 

 visit us every autumn from Northern Europe, and that most 

 of the birds seen during winter in England are individuals 

 that have left their arctic haunts as soon as food became scarce. 



Let us now give a passing word to what is perhaps the 

 rarest of our raptorial birds, the Osprey (Pandion haliaetus). 

 Its numbers have so far decreased that now only one or 

 two pairs return to their nesting sites, and these are in the 

 wildest and most secluded portions of the Highlands. The 

 Osprey's powerful feet and enormous claws, long wings, brown 

 upper parts and white under parts (except the nape, which is 

 white streaked with brown, and the upper breast, which is 

 banded with brown), are its distinguishing characters. It is 

 a summer migrant to Scotland, and during the two seasons of 

 passage is often observed in England. Its food is exclusively 

 composed of fish, which it strikes at and catches with its 

 powerful claws. I have seen this bird plunge with amazing 

 force into the Highland lochs in chase of fish. In many of 

 its habits it resembles the White-tailed Eagle. It makes a 

 bulky nest of sticks and turf, lined with grass, which is added 

 to and repaired every season, either on the topmost branches 

 of a pine tree, or on some ruin, especially if situated on an 

 island. The eggs are two or three in number and remarkably 

 beautiful, being yellowish- white, boldly blotched and spotted 

 and marbled with deep reddish-brown, purplish-brown, or 

 orange-red. The female hatches the eggs, the male supplying 

 her with food. The flight of the Osprey is powerful and long 

 sustained. It may often be seen for half an hour or more 

 gliding to and fro through the highest air, far above the grand 

 old forests or the wide waste of silent waters. 



