38 ninls. 



stone. He crept cautiously along the shelf till close to the erne, and 

 then suddenly raising himself, and throwing his body over the stone, 

 seized the bird by a wing and leg. The so-called king (or in this in- 

 stance queen) of the feathered tribes, seemed completely cowed by his 

 presence, and made no resistance to this rude and unexpected inter- 

 ruption, on the contrary, she merely opened her bill, apparently in a 

 furtive attempt to call in the assistance of her lord and master, who, 

 by the way, was soaring at a safe distance above, while this lawless 

 " spulzie " was perpetrating, and then resigned herself to her fate. 

 The non-resistance of the bird was the more singular, as one of her 

 wings and feet, and her head, were entirely free, and the powerful 

 struggle she could have made would have either soon freed herself, or, 

 what is more probable, dragged the spoiler over the precipice. To 

 use his own simile, she made no more resistance than had it been a 

 hen or a goose in similar circumstances. He, however, seeing her 

 thus passive, leisurely undid his garters, tied up the bill and feet, 

 twisted the wings together, and the vulture-eagle lay in her own nest, 

 bound, gagged and powerless. The only path by which the man could 

 return was too steep and difficult to allow of his carrying such a hea- 

 vy bird, and consequently he was obliged to let her fall, and the un- 

 fortunate captive rolled down helpless through the air she had so often 

 cloven with such ease and safety, and met an ignominious death on 

 the rocks beneath. The successful fowler retraced his steps by ano- 

 ther and a safer path, and secured his prize, which, with the eg^ ob- 

 tained at the same time, is now before me, being in the possession of 

 my uncle, Thomas Edmonston, Esq. of Burress. The nest was con- 

 structed chiefly of heather twigs and the dried stems of Laminaria di- 

 gitata, uprooted and cast ashore ; it was lined with wool, feathers and 

 ^'sinna,'''"'^' and contained few of the remains usually found in the nests 

 of birds of prey, as the young ones had not come out, but a dead guil- 

 lemot and two kittiwakes were found, which renders it probable that 

 one bird feeds the other while sitting on the eggs. It is also asserted 

 that the male regularly takes his turn at the duty of incubation. The 

 stomach contained, among some nearly digested fragments, an entire 

 puffin. 



The following description of this individual, a very old female, in 

 perfect summer plumage, may perhaps be interesting to some of your 



* This name is applied to the withered hcrhage of the previous year ; and in Nor- 

 way and Iceland it is given to Carex sylvatica, which plant, with the Fescues, Luzula 

 maxima cVo. cliiclly compose the grass of the cliffs in Shetland. 



