250 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



that the female was missing, and the nest harried. They 

 have never hatched there since : the male has been frequently 

 seen, but he has never found another mate. When they had 

 young, they did not confine their depredations to Loch Men- 

 teith, but used to go in quest of prey to the other lochs in the 

 neighbourhood ; and, in the evening, would fly down the glen, 

 carrying a fish a foot long in their claws. The ospreys which 

 yearly hatched on Loch-an-Eilan, on the Eothiemurchus estate, 

 have also been wantonly destroyed within recent years. 



The nest of the osprey is lined with coarse water-plants 

 and grasses : the outside fenced with thick sticks, some of 

 them four inches round, and three feet and a half long proof 

 enough of the strength of its legs and wings. The eggs are 

 as large as a hen's, with reddish-brown spots. The osprey is 

 about the size of the herring-gull; the breast nearly white, 

 spotted with brown ; back and wings dull brown ; the thighs 

 very muscular ; legs and claws, which are of a bluish flesh- 

 colour, equally so. 



