CH. VIII. BIRDS OF SUTHERLAND. 119 



2. The Cinereous or White-tailed Eagle is per- 

 haps more numerous than the Golden Eagle ; living, 

 as it does, principally in the lofty cliffs of the sea- 

 coast, and feeding more on dead fish and food found 

 on the shore, it does not so often fall in the way of 

 the trapper or fox-hunter : it breeds, sometimes, 

 amongst the inland mountains. The White-tailed 

 Eagle, though larger than the Golden, is not so 

 handsome nor finely formed and coloured a bird. 

 All other varieties of the eagle found in the Hi^h- 

 lands are merely these birds in different states of 

 plumage, owing to sex or age, as there are only 

 these two distinct kinds of eagle in Britain. 



3. The Osprey is more rare and local than either 

 kind of eagle. Though not a very heavy bird, its 

 breadth of wing nearly equals that of the Golden 

 Eagle. The habitat of the Osprey is confined to 

 the north-west part of the county, where the numer- 

 ous lochs, well supplied with trout, afford this bird 

 both refuge and food. The principal, if not the 

 only places in which it breeds, are Loch Assynt ; a 

 loch two or three miles north of the ferry of Kyleska ; 

 a loch three miles eastward of Scowrie ; two of the 

 fresh-water lakes near Loch Inchard, at the head 

 of which is the inn of Ehiconnich ; and, again, on 

 Loch Maddie, the Osprey occasionally frequents a 

 nest built on an old birch -tree in an island. 



