MAY 121 



with ospreys, the parent birds make no attempt at con- 

 cealment. It is no new thing this craze for eggs laid, 

 and the skins of birds killed, in Britain. Eighty years 

 ago when Charles St. John made his tour in Suther- 

 land, he found it in full swing and wrote bitterly of the 

 ravages of collectors who commanded a ready sale to 

 'people who have not the slightest knowledge of the 

 natural history of the bird whose eggs they fancy they 

 are buying.' ^ The Wild Birds Protection Acts have 

 effected much towards checking the operations of egg- 

 stealers, but it is difficult to enforce the law in wild, 

 thinly-peopled regions. 



Since I was at Loch Arkaig in 1899, both eyries have 

 been harried by hired miscreants, and the osprey breeds 

 no longer in the British Isles. The end came a few 

 years ago on a wild night of snow and wind, when a 

 certain dauntless Highlander, tempted by a liberal 

 bribe, raided the eyrie on the Chapel Isle. The boats 

 were all locked up, so he stripped and, plunging into 

 the dark, icy water, swam to the island. The hen bird 

 was sitting close among the swaying boughs ; the howl- 

 ing of the storm prevented her taking alarm, so the 

 naked thief was able to capture and strangle her ruth- 

 lessly before depositing the eggs in his bonnet, the only 

 article of raiment he had retained, and he swam back 

 to the shore with it in his teeth. 



Even if effective protection could be assured for 

 ospreys in their breeding haunts, these birds are ex- 

 posed through their roving habits to constant peril 

 from gamekeepers, whom it is almost impossible to 

 ' Tour in Sutherland (edit. 1849), vol. i. p. 143. 



