(376 A SINKING WEEK IN THE WEST HIGHLANDS. 



Our pike has led me to digress. Having no more tackle, 

 we contented ourselves, before joining the carriage which 

 was to convey us to Inverary, with a view of the old castle, 

 now very tottery and dangerous to ascend. Numerous 

 daws were rejoicing in the holes and cavities. The osprey's 

 nest formerly graced a high pinnacle, the owners having 

 an abundant supply of food wherever they chose to seek it. 

 Sea-trout of alargesize I have several times seen in the water- 

 eagle's nest ; but seldom pike, and never flesh of any kind. 



A gamekeeper wantonly shot the last of these beautiful 

 birds that tenanted Kilchurn's turrets, and none have 

 replaced them. I was delighted, however, when trolling 

 Loch Awe last summer, twice to meet with a solitary 

 osprey, probably the widower of Kilchurn Castle. In case 

 he should take a second mate, I have given directions to 

 my gamekeeper to watch in the spring whether they build 

 in any of the moor lochans in the neighbourhood, where, 

 I trust, they will be permitted to rear their family in peace. 



Having some arrangements to make at my summer quar- 

 ters on Loch Awe about the middle of last May, I received 

 a message from my friend Peter Kobertson of the Black 

 Mount, the purport of which was, that as the sea-eagle had 

 been sitting hard for some time, he hoped there was little 

 risk of a disappointment like my last. Next evening I 

 arrived at his house. The moon in her crescent, a little 

 shaded by dappled clouds, was casting her pale glow upon 

 the untroubled waters of the forest, tempting us to steal a 

 night-march, in order to surprise the eyrie by break of day. 



