THE LAST OF THE OSPREYS 55 



so alarmed them that their numbers were reduced to 

 the single pair upon Loch-an-Eilan. It was shortly 

 after this period, in 1872, that a disaster occurred 

 which for a time left the nest on the old castle tenant- 

 less. A sportsman, seeing a strange bird rise from a 

 burn, shot what proved to be the male osprey ; and 

 though for two years the female bird returned in the 

 first week of April, and remained by the nest waiting 

 for her old mate to join her, she finally disappeared, and 

 for six years no ospreys were seen on Loch-an-Eilan. 

 But in the first week of April 1878, a pair revisited 

 the castle, and at once set to work to repair the deserted 

 nest upon the turret. In due time the eggs were laid ; 

 and as no boat was allowed upon the loch, the young 

 were hatched, to the delight of the whole neighbour- 

 hood, who made common cause in the protection of 

 the brood. For ten years the visits of the ospreys 

 were not interrupted, and the care with which the 

 fish-hawks brooded and fed their young has been the 

 most interesting spring sight on Loch-an-Eilan. " All 

 that was visible of the hen-bird," wrote a visitor x in 

 1880, " was her brown back on a level with the twigs, 

 and her erect head and flashing eye, which she con- 

 stantly turned with the restless watchfulness of all 

 predatory birds. She was looking up the loch when 

 we arrived, a position which she seemed to prefer, but 

 successively faced in all directions. She formed an 

 interesting sight, with her grey crest and head, and the 



1 Mr. W. Jolly, in the Leisure Hour. 



