374 



NATURE 



[May 26, 1910 



he carried out his observations under weather condi- 

 tions of the most trying and discouraging sort. Wind, 

 rain, sleet, and intense cold companioned him through- 

 out the — " unbrokenly wet and gloomy "^ — period of 

 investigation — from April to July. 



The eyrie where this royal mother established her 

 nursery was situated on a narrow ledge of rock, 

 200 feet perpendicularly above a stream "in a dark 

 gloomy corrie in a wild deer forest "—which, with 

 excellent circumspection, the author does not more 

 definitely locate — " in the heart of the Grampian 

 range," into which "the sun penetrates for a few 

 short hours during the long summer day." Here, 

 with the aid of a very sympathetic stalker, the recorder 

 constructed, within a few yards of the nest, a 

 " bothy " as an observatory, so well disguised 

 that it deceived the " eagle eyes " of the parents — 

 into which he could iust crowd himself and his 



desire to read this diary for himself in its entirety, 

 unspoiled by disjointed quotations. He will follow 

 with unflagging interest the mother eagle sheltering 

 her downy chick ; feeding him at regular hours during 

 its tenderest days; comforting' him with wonderful 

 solicitude on the approach of a violent thunderstorm ; 

 teaching him — when about a month old — how to feed 

 himself for the first time. The diverting manoeuvres 

 of the youngster, his games with himself, and his 

 toilet operations as he grows older are interestingly 

 recorded ; how, also, after eight weeks old, when 

 nearly as big as his parent, he began practising 

 exercises b}' which he acquired strength in his wings 

 and legs, and, in addition, a fierce hunger and 

 vigorous appetite, which demanded a daily ration of 

 two grouse, and the hindquarters of two full-grown 

 hares ; and, finally, how, under his mother's instruc- 

 tion, his tuition in aviation, which, every day, was 



Father and Child. From " The H jint-li^e of a Golden Eagle.' 



cameras. From April 23, 1909, when the mother 

 eagle was found sitting hard on two eggs, to the 

 end of Julv, eleven weeks in all, we are made par- 

 takers, with Mr. Macpherson, of the most intimate 

 privacy of the home-life of a member of a very 

 exclusive set of bird society, and see every domestic 

 incident performed naturally, and not through fear or 

 suspicion, or under the distraction of an intruder. 

 We feel, therefore, at the close of our vigils, that 

 there is little we do not know about the upbringing 

 of a prince of the avian blood royal, and the parental 

 care and solicitude of the hen-eagle towards her 

 offspring. About May 13 two eaglets were hatched; 

 but one having mysteriously disappeared, the fortunes 

 of its brother alone form the burden of this history. ^ 



It would be unfair to the author to extract, as one is 

 tempted to do, the more intimate and touching episodes 

 from his well-told story. Every ornithologist will 



NO. 21 17, VOL. 83] 



preparing him by short flights for his fast approachin 

 supreme adventure, when he must fare forth for th 

 first time into space "on his own." Mr. Macpherso 

 must allow us to quote his own account of the eaglet" 

 last hours in the eyrie : — 



" At length he stepped forward to the edge of th 

 cliff and gazed intently upwards, at the same tim 

 uttering the low cheeping note with which he ha 

 always greeted his parents' return. . . . Then su< 

 denly a dark form flashed up the corrie and hi 

 mother swung past on silent wings . . . and tried 1 

 tempt him from his fastness. But the Eaglet wi 

 unwilling to obev. . . . Again and again she hovenj 

 round, then a wild, weird cry rang echoing down t| 

 glen. For the first time I had heard the yelp of tt 

 adult Eagle, the voice of the Queen of Birds calHn 

 to her voung. . . . The Eaglet cheeped continuous 

 till . . 1 he flapped to the very edge of the abyss . 



