ANOTHER OSPREy's NEST. 105 



CHAPTER VIL 



Another Osprey"s Nest ; Variety of Eggs — Golden Eagle ; 

 Manner of Hunting ; decrease of — Egg Collectors — Mr. 

 Hancock's Collection — Nests of Eagles ; Animals killed by — 

 The Mountain Hare — Fishing of Osprey. 



Two miles from Scowrie, on the Rhiconnich road 

 or near it, is a loch where the ospreys build, and 

 where, in May, I shot the old hen, taking at the 

 same time two eggs. Mr. Dunbar, with his usual 

 perseverance, went to this nest immediately on our 

 return fi'om Handa, and found that the male bird 

 had got another mate, and that she was already 

 busily employed in sitting on a single egg. 



It is very difficult to describe correctly the eggs 

 of many birds : for instance, the two eggs which 

 I took from this nest were beautifully marked with 

 fine rich red spots, while the egg now taken by 

 Dunbar was of a dirty white colour, marked at one 

 end only by a splash of brown, and was also smaller 

 than the others. In another nest, again, the eggs 

 were considerably larger than either of these, and 

 differently marked both as to colour and shape of 

 spots. In the same manner one reads the descrip- 

 tion of the size of birds as being measured to inches 



f3 



