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hundred years ago it used to breed annually on the high rocks of Snowdon ; and he describes a 

 nest found in Derbyshire in 1668. According to Sir William Jardine it formerly bred in 

 Westmoreland and Cumberland ; and Bewick states that it used to nest on the highest parts of 

 Cheviot. Now, however, it is only seen as a rare straggler, except in the wildest portions of 

 Scotland, and, as might be expected, it is but seldom seen in Central and Southern England. 

 It has on more than one occasion been recorded in Norfolk ; but Mr. Stevenson informs me that 

 he only knows of one authentic specimen obtained in that county. Mr. Cordeaux states that a 

 young female was shot near Dumeld, in Yorkshire, in December 1861 ; and Mr. Hancock speaks 

 of it as being a rare and casual visitant to Northumberland and Durham. In Scotland Aquila 

 chrysaetus breeds in most of the western and northern counties, but in the lowlands it is only 

 met with in the autumn and winter. The Eev. T. B. Bell informed Mr. A. G. More that it bred 

 some years ago in Kirkcudbright ; and Mr. More gives also Stirling, Perthshire, and Aberdeen- 

 shire as nesting-localities for this species. It also breeds in the Hebrides, and used formerly 

 to do so in the Orkneys, though not in the Shetlands. It appears by no means improbable 

 that in some portions of Scotland the Golden Eagle is rather increasing than decreasing in 

 numbers. In proof of this I may cite the following information given me by Mr. David Bruce, 

 junr., of Stirling. This gentleman writes : — " I believe that I can show that the Golden Eagle 

 instead of diminishing is gaining ground in the Braemar district. Macgillivray, who in his 

 ' Natural History of Dee-side ' gives a list of the species inhabiting this district, says, ' This 

 species, which formerly existed in considerable numbers in Braemar, and bred in the precipices 

 of the wildest glens, is now very seldom to be seen there;' and, again, 'In the course of six 

 weeks' excursions among the mountains I saw only two individuals.' Now in 1876, after a lapse 

 of twenty-six years, the following is a list of the Eagles I saw during a fortnight spent amongst 

 these wild bleak hills and rugged glens, viz.: — On the 22nd May I noticed a single Eagle assailed 

 by Black-headed Gulls in the precipices which surround Loch Dubh on the south. On the 23rd 

 May I saw three soaring together over the Dubh rock near Dubh Loch ; and I subsequently saw 

 two together at the same place as on the 22nd inst. On the 27th May I observed one sailing 

 slowly along over the ridge of Derry Cairn Gorrn. On the 1st June, whilst Macdonald and I 

 were sitting on the side of Cairn Toul, one passed us going full cry ; and Mac assured me that it 

 is not an uncommon occurrence to see as many as six together in this locality." 



In Ireland this Eagle appears to have decreased in numbers of late years ; but it still nests 

 in some of the wilder parts of the country. Professor Newton remarks that it probably breeds 

 in the most dreary portions of Mayo and Donegal, though in the latter county it was believed 

 a few years since that only a single pair remained. 



The Golden Eagle neither inhabits Iceland nor Greenland, but is found throughout Northern 

 Scandinavia. Mr. Collett says that it breeds in the mountainons parts of Norway, especially in 

 the interior of the Hamar and Christiansand stifts, and along the west coast, north of the Dovre, 

 to the Russian frontier, both on the mainland and on the islands. In the autumn and winter it 

 visits the lowlands, but it scarcely ever straggles as far south as the Christiania valley. In 

 Southern and Central Sweden, as in the lowlands of Norway, it is only a straggler, and somewhat 

 rare. In Finland it is found chiefly in the northern and more mountainous portions of the 

 country ; and in Bussia it occurs in the far north and in the Ural range, straggling during the 



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