8o THE BOOK OF BIRDS 



Until the middle of the nineteenth century, the 

 landowners in the Highlands used to allow their keepers 

 to shoot or poison every Eagle they could reach. It is 

 recorded that within three years — from March 1831 to 

 March 1834 — in Sutherlandshire alone, one hundred and 

 seventy-one adult birds and fifty-three nestlings and eggs 

 were ruthlessly destroyed. But when the deadly work 

 had gone on for some time and the sight of a hovering 

 Eagle had become almost as rare as in the Southern 

 counties of England, the foolishness of such slaughter 

 came to be seen and repented of 



For although the Eagle takes his share of the game 

 so jealously preserved for shooting, he more than pays for 

 his robberies by the useful work which he does in keeping 

 down the number of small fry among the birds and 

 animals on the estate. Most of the landlords began to 

 give orders for the sparing of these glorious raiders. To 

 shoot an Eagle grew to be looked upon as a crime. As a 

 result, the Golden Eagle now holds its own in Scotland, 

 at all events in the western and northern districts. 



All honour, however, to such wise landowners as the 

 Marquis of Breadalbane, who gave refuge in his splendid 

 deer forest of Blackmount in Argyllshire to the whole 

 Eagle tribe — as many stragglers as would come — while the 

 persecution was still going on, and while still it was the 

 fashion to try to exterminate them. I have recently 

 heard that the Golden Eagle builds there still. 



It is believed that if the stealing of eggs could also be 

 stopped, the numbers of Eagles in the Highlands would 

 at once greatly increase. From two to four eggs may 

 be found in the Golden Eagle's nest. They are usually 

 white, but sometimes mottled and marked with reddish 

 blotches. 



