OUR RARER BRITISH BREEDING BIRDS. t>3 



One day I watched the female tearing pieces 

 off a large fish and giving them very daintily to 

 one of her chicks, which sat up in the nest in 

 precisely the same manner as a young Golden 

 Eagle. Directly I approached too near for her 

 peace of mind she rose, and, to my surprise, 

 carried the mutilated body of the fish away with 

 her. On another occasion, when I rowed my boat 

 too near the islet on which the eyrie was situated, 

 the male, happening to be there at the time, seized 

 a large stick, and flying off with it in the same 

 attitude as he carried his prey, dropped it from a 

 great altitude into the loch, and then took his 

 departure towards the place where he did most of 

 his fishing. 



Although the Osprey has no chance of showing 

 its gregarious nature in this country as in America, 

 an additional pair doubtless the descendants of 

 those under consideration have established them- 

 selves on the same loch and built an eyrie on the 

 mainland, which fact has, of course, robbed them 

 of a chance of rearing any young ones up to now. 

 The proprietor of the property upon which these 

 two pairs of birds breed, or endeavour to do so, 

 is fortunately a thorough rare-bird preserver, and 

 when those nesting on the island have eggs, every 

 boat on the loch is securely chained and pad- 

 locked. 



Ospreys are wonderfully conservative birds, and 

 if unmolested return year after year to a favourite 

 haunt and repair the old eyrie. It reaches an 

 enormous height. The specimen in the frontis- 

 piece once reached the incredible height of nine 

 feet before it was blown down by a gale of wind. 

 It is said by observers living on the spot that, in 

 obtaining materials for its eyrie, the bird never 



