Birds. 7311 



Sunart, Argyleshire, may interest some of your readers : — "Yeslevday a few people 

 hafi an excitiufif adventure with a whale, which was noticed by Anfjus Graham, in ihe 

 forenoon, swimming about at the head of the loch (Sunart). Beaton, and his brother 

 of the smack ' Phoenix,' were along with him. They got two harpoons made out of 

 rod iron, with a ring at one end, to which they attached ropes; and two boats, wiih 

 Hamilton the smith and a few others, set off in pursuit. When they came up with 

 the whale Beaton, who is a daring fellow, struck at it with one of the harpoons ; after 

 three attempts he succeeded in fixing it about two feet above the tail, and it held fast. 

 Away went the whale, dragging the two boats after it, at steamboat speed. It crossed 

 and recidssed the loch (nearly a mile broad), grounding and getting off again. At 

 one time it went below Hamilton's boat, and gave it a lift that nearly upset it; at 

 another lime it went close past the boat, and broke an oar that Graham put down to 

 keep it off. After a three-hours' chase the whale grounded at the head of the loch, 

 having become exhausted ; and your keeper Munro fired, and put a ball through the 

 head. The whale was thus secured, and when dead was towed to the beach at the 

 Greenfield, where young and old have been to see it. It is twenty-four feet long, and 

 is, I presume, of the bottle-nose variety. It is thought to be a female. The blubber 

 will be run into oil, and divided among those men who were engaged in the capture. 

 They owe their success chiefly to the daring of Beaton, who is master of a smack 

 belonging to Mull."— Thomas M. Riddell, in the ' Field'; Perth, November 27, I860. 



Occurrence of the Spotted Eagle (Falco nsevius) in Cornwall.— The capture of tliis 

 rare eagle took place on the 4ih instant, in the eastern part of Cornwall, at a large 

 covert called Hawk's Wood, the properly of Francis Rodd, Esq., of Trebartha Hall, 

 adjoining the large moors between Hawk's Tor and Kiimar, and not very far distant 

 from the well-known Cheesering. Hawk's Tor and Kiimar Tor rank amongst the 

 highest hills in Cornwall, reaching an altitude of from UlOO to 1200 feet: the 

 character of these hills and the moors about ihem in every direction is exactly 

 similar to those on Dartmoor; in f;ict, the range is a continuation of the great 

 granite tract, extending, with some few interruptions, to the Land's End. The 

 capture of this bird deserves a notice: it was observed first in a tree, and on the 

 approach of the shooting party, instead of soaring, the bird shuffled down the tree and 

 scrambled under some rocks ; the condition of the bird was beyond the average of 

 birds of prey, large masses of fat encircling the gizzard, which on dissection was 

 entirely empty; one of the wing-bones was broken, but whether with shot or other- 

 wise I cannot exactly determine; the body, wings and every part of the bird 

 exhibited the most perfect form, but probably some injury at the time prevented 

 the bird from taking flight. The bird was sent to me in the flesh, and I had 

 therefore a good opportunity of taking several particulars, which I will now proceed 

 to give. 



Weight, 4 tbs. 1 OZ. Feet. Inches, 



Extreme length 2 3 



From carpal joint to the end of the longest quill- 

 feather (5th) 1 8 



Extreme width 6 5 



Length of tail 10 



