18 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



ridean eagle, therefore, may be worthy a closer examination, and 

 I commend it in the meantime to the attention of ornithologists 

 who may visit that portion of the outer islands. 



Albino varieties of the Sea Eagle have in one or two instances 

 occurred in Scotland. Mr St John has the following note bearing on 

 this subject: " This year (1848), during the month of September, 

 I saw a freshly-killed Sea Eagle or White-tailed Eagle (Haliaetus 

 albicilla), whose colour was a fine silvery white, without the slightest 

 admixture of brown. The bird was killed in Sutherland, and I 

 was informed that another eagle had been seen in its company 

 with the same unusual plumage." Mr Brown has also informed 

 me that there is a pure white variety in the museum at Dunrobin 

 Castle. 



The figure in the accompanying plate was taken by Mr Sinclair 

 from a fine specimen shot in the Isle of Skye. 



THE OSPREY. 



PANDION HALIAETUS. 



lolair uisg. 



From being a comparatively common bird, the Osprey is now, 

 with the exception of the kite and goshawk, the rarest of our 

 native species; indeed, it has been stated recently that it is doubtful 

 whether the Osprey now breeds in any part of Britain. Such were 

 my own fears until I had the satisfaction of learning from Mr 

 Elwes, that there are still (1867) at least three or four breeding 

 stations in Ross-shire, and that these are strictly protected.* 



In by-gone years, Ospreys bred on Inch Galbraith on Loch 

 Lomond, and on one of the islets in Lake Menteith; also on Loch 

 Maree, Loch Awe, and other places of a like character; but these 

 localities have been long deserted, although a stray bird may be 

 seen at times hovering in the vicinity of the islets where the nests 



* I have since been informed on very good authority of another breeding 

 station in Kirkcudbrightshire ; and Mr Brown has also assured ine that 

 eggs of the Osprey were taken in Inverness-shire in the breeding season 

 of 1869, and that the birds laid a second time, and were allowed to hatch 

 their young in safety. I may here repeat what I have elsewhere stated, that 

 the species still nests in Wigtownshire, which is, in all likelihood, the most 

 south ernly breeding station at present in Britain. 



