3484 The Zoologist — April, 1873. 



centre, which was lined with birch twigs and heather. In the interior was 

 an addled egg, where it had remained since the previous spring, white lilce 

 that of the sea eagle, and without any of the ferruginous or reddish colour 

 that is more characteristic of the golden eagle's— although this pale variety 

 is occasionally found even among prolific eggs of the latter species. Besides 

 this the nest contained several large wing- and tail-feathers of the owner, . 

 a quantity of down from the young birds, the foot of a blue hare, the wing 

 and leg of a ptarmigan, and the half-devoured body of a recently-killed 

 hooded crow. It was evident that the parents still used it as a larder, which 

 was satisfactorily explained, a few days afterwards, on my perceiving two 

 immature golden eagles, whose ringed tails were distinctly visible through 

 my spy-glass, flying about the tree and alighting occasionally on the 

 ground, evidently expecting to be fed by their parents, neither of whom, 

 however, appeared on that occasion, although repeatedly summoned by the 

 loud screams of the younger birds. 



" For several years the golden eagle has established its eyrie on a Scotch 

 fir in this forest. A stout bough, with strong lateral branches, is selected 

 in the first instance, and the nest, such as I have described, constructed on 

 the platform. In the following spring the fabric, even when apparently 

 uninjured by the winter storms, is added to, or ' put out,' as the foresters 

 call it. The same process is repeated annually, until at length the over- 

 burdened bough gives way and snaps off, carrying with it to the ground 

 the accumulated mass of sticks, brushwood and heather, and next year a 

 new tree is chosen for tlie eyrie, sometimes at a great distance from that 

 which had been previously occupied." — P. 141. 



T am happy to agree entirely with Mr. Knox as lo the innocence of 

 the dipper. I have attentively studied its habits botli in Scotland 

 and Wales ; have examined it alive and dead ; have found abundant 

 evidence of its feeding on caddis-worms in all their marvellous 

 multiplicity of form and structure ; but never could obtain a tittle 

 of evidence that it sought after the spawn of trout or of salmon, or 

 of any other fish. 1 regret tliat the Rev. George Gordon, of Birnie, 

 should ever have stooped ft-oni his high position as a naturalist to 

 pen a paragraph for the 'Zoologist' (Zool. 505), which confirmed 

 the persecutors of this poor bird in its ruthless destruction. 1 will 

 cite the objectionable passage : — 



«' The rocks of Killas on the Lossie is a favourite haunt of the ouzel ; it 

 was observed there, by one of the water bailiffs, to contend with the common 

 trout in carrying off and eating the ova of the sea trout, even at the very 

 time that the latter was lying and shedding its spawn on the reeds or 

 spawning ground. From its known partiality to, and destruction of, the 



