SPRING-TIME ON THE MOUNTAINS. 63 



watch our movements as they stand upon the 

 boulders. They are just about to pair, and the red 

 combs of the cock-birds glisten again in the sun. 

 These hills are a favourite haunt of the Golden 

 Eagles ; they have their eyrie on the giddy sides 

 of yonder frowning glen. Let us shelter from 

 the cutting wind behind these friendly rocks, and, 

 knee-deep in the withered heather, wait and watch 

 for his feathered majesty's appearance. Eagles 

 .are confirmed wanderers, and may not come this 

 way for hours, even at all ; still, the Red Grouse 

 will amuse us, and the Hooded Crows serve to 

 pass away the time. 



Fortune, however, favours us this morning. 

 The pair of Eagles are at home, and the male 

 bird soars proudly over the distant ridge, which 

 separates us from the adjoining valley, and, after 

 circling round and round high up in the clear, 

 bracing air, swoops down into the rocky fastness, 

 where, for years upon years, they and their an- 

 cestors have made their nest. Great splashes of 

 droppings, which show out white and conspicuous 

 on the rocks, mark out the exact site of the eyrie ; 

 but as it is made in a part of the cliff which over- 

 hangs considerably, and we should require enough 

 tackle to storm a rampart to get into it, we must 

 be content with viewing it from the broken ground 

 on the opposite side of the glen. The eggs, how- 

 ever, are already laid, and the male bird regularly 

 supplies his sitting partner with food. As soon as 

 the young Eagles are hatched, the ewes will be 



