142 AUTUMNS ON THE SPEY. 



with the assistance of a gillie, I succeeded in 

 climbing to it and examined its structure and 

 contents. The enormous fabric was about eight 

 feet wide. Some of the external sticks of which 

 it was composed were nearly as thick as my wrist, 

 their size gradually diminishing towards the 

 centre, which was lined with birch twigs and 

 heather. In the interior was an addled egg, 

 where it had remained since the previous spring, 

 white, like that of the sea eagle, and without 

 any of the ferruginous or reddish colour that 

 is more characteristic of the golden eagle's 

 although this pale variety is occasionally found 

 even among prolific eggs of the latter species. 

 Besides this, the nest contained several large wing 

 and tail-feathers of the owner, a quantity of down 

 from the young birds the foot of a blue hare, 

 the wing and leg of a ptarmigan, and the half- 

 devoured body of a recently killed hooded crow. 

 It was evident that the parents still used it as a 

 larder, which was satisfactorily explained, a few 

 days afterwards, on my perceiving two immature 

 golden eagles, whose ringed tails were distinctly 

 visible through my spy-glass, flying about the tree 

 and alighting occasionally on the ground, evidently 

 expecting to be fed by their parents, neither of 



