GOLDEN EAGLE. 3 



bred in the Long Island, I can scarcely resist the conclusion that 

 as a rule these eagles are smaller and darker in colour than those 

 bred on the mainland. This difference may arise from local causes, 

 such as the paucity of game of all kinds as food, or the persistent 

 storms of the country blowing their natural prey into sheltered 

 recesses, and thus obliging them to fast, perhaps an unusual length 

 of time. A more likely solution of the difference, however, may 

 be founded on the fact alluded to by Mr Cassin, in his " Birds of 

 California and Texas," that the Golden Eagle of some parts of 

 North America is smaller and darker than the European bird; and 

 taking this fact into consideration, these Hebridean eagles may be 

 a race verging on this nearly allied species. This difference in the 

 size of the bird would almost appear to hold good in the egg also, 

 those found in some of the Hebridean eyries, at least, containing 

 very small eggs, very handsomely spotted, and reminding me of 

 the difference between the eggs of the Osprey of America and that 

 of Europe. 



Having had fewer opportunities than some other naturalists of 

 examining the eyrie of the Golden Eagle, I turn with pleasure to 

 a highly interesting communication ' with which I have been 

 favoured by my obliging correspondent, Henry J. Elwes, Esq., late 

 Captain Scots Fusilier Guards, to whom I have had occasion in the 

 course of this volume to refer for other information of equal value 

 and interest : 



" The Golden Eagle usually commences to prepare its nest for 

 eggs about the beginning of April, and selects for that purpose a 

 rock, which, though nearly always in a commanding situation, is 

 nearer the bottom than the top of a mountain. I have been in or 

 near at least a dozen eyries, and not one of them, to the best 

 of my judgment, is more than 1000 feet above the sea, though a 

 beautiful and extended view is obtained from all of them. The 

 rock is generally a good deal broken and clothed with grass, ferns, 

 bushes, and tufts of a plant which I believe is Luzida sylvatica, 

 and which is always found in the lining of the nest. The ledge on 

 which the nest is placed is generally sheltered from above by the 

 overhanging rock, the structure being sometimes composed of a 

 large quantity of sticks, heather, etc., and in other cases very slight 

 indeed. The eggs are laid about the 10th of April, being a little 

 later in the Outer Hebrides than on the mainland. Their number 

 is usually two, very often three, especially with old birds, and 



