244 THE RETURN OF THE EAGLES 



feathered biped. Its remains were preserved ; its skin 

 was stuffed, and may be seen at the present day in a 

 glass case at Galloway House. 



The white-tailed eagle remained longer in the district, 

 the last eyrie having been built in 1862. A young bird 

 taken in 1858 remained in a cage at Cairnsmore till May 

 1900, when it died at the ripe age of forty-two. This tends 

 to throw some discredit on the Highland dogma 



' Twice the life of a horse, once the age of a man ; 

 Twice the life of a man, once the life of a stag ; 

 Twice the life of a stag, once the life of an eagle.' 



Now, I have said that a year ago red deer, ptarmigan, and 

 eagles might be reckoned as extinct in Galloway; but 

 that cannot be said now. The red deer are gone past 

 recalling, though stags of a stature and weight unknown 

 in Highland forests still roam in the enclosed hill about 

 Garlies Castle in the valley of Penkiln. A spirited attempt 

 is being made this year (1906) to restore ptarmigan to the 

 tops which they used to inhabit. Large numbers of eggs 

 have been brought from the Highlands, but it will be easily 

 understood what difficulties beset the artificial incubation 

 and rearing of such an exclusively alpine bird. 



The eagles have returned of themselves. Last spring, 

 seventy-one years since the last golden eagles were hatched 

 in Minigaff, a pair of these noble birds sought out the 

 hereditary haunt of their race and built an eyrie. The 

 female laid but one egg (two is the regulation number), 

 sat upon it for some weeks, but abandoned it, when the 

 egg was found to be addled. 



This incident is one of great interest to lovers of 

 nature, which, says Horace, you may pitch out with a 

 fork, but it will always return. Eagles, with only too 



