REVEW5 



The Home-Life of a Golden Eagle. Photographed and des- 

 cribed by H. B. Macpherson. (Witherby& Co.) Crown 4to, 

 pp. 45, and 32 plates, 5s. net. 



After waiting three years Mr. H. B. Macpherson has been 

 able to carry out his determination of making an intimate 

 study of the home-life of a pair of Golden Eagles and their 

 young, and in the present artistic volume he has given us 

 a detailed account of his observations illustrated with a unique 

 series of photographs. The number of Eagles' eyries must be 

 extremely small which are so situated as to afford an environ- 

 ment that can be turned to account by the naturalist-photo- 

 grapher, and Mr. Macpherson must be accounted a lucky man 

 to have found such an one. Fortune must ever be a factor in 

 this, as in most other ventures of the sportsman or naturalist, 

 but this does not in the least detract from the ability, 

 perseverance and endurance that is called for in making the 

 best use of such an opportunity when it occurs. 



Situated in a gloomy corrie in the heart of the Grampians 

 at a height of close upon 3000 feet, this Eagles' nest was on 

 a ledge that could be approached fairly easily from both 

 above and below. At a convenient spot on the ledge some 

 200 feet above the brawling burn and close to the nest, the 

 author excavated a hole two feet deep and built up walls 

 of stones on three sides, roofing his hiding-place with canvas, 

 covered with grass and heather. For the best part of three 

 months he visited this almost daily, walking to and from the 

 nest, in the aggregate, as he tells us, well over a thousand 

 miles, and frequently remaining crouched beside his camera 

 for twelve or sixteen hours a day, frozen by the nipping cold 

 winds, often drenched to the skin, and exposed later on to the 

 attacks of biting insects with which the nest swarmed as the 

 young birds grew. Such persistence and endurance can really 

 be only fully appreciated by one who has (although in a milder 

 way) followed similar pui suits, and a full appreciation of the 

 difficulties renders our admiration of the results achieved all 

 the more enthusiastic. Mr. Macpherson is to be heartily con- 

 gratulated on the success of his undertaking, and British 

 ornithologists are indebted to him for a unique account of the 

 nesting habits and early life of our noblest British bird, 

 which after years of persecution has at length received, we 

 are glad to note, that measure of protection it so richly 

 deserves. Such investigations as those of the author, ac- 



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