ORNITHOLOGICAL OBSERVATION IN ICELAND. 99 



must, I suppose, have made a flash past the window, for she can 

 hardly have heard the sound. This is a horrid nuisance. 



At 2 p.m., as arranged, Sigurdsson and his brother come for 

 me in the boat, and we get away by about 3. The Eagle has 

 not come back again, but she has stayed away as long and longer 

 before, and I think without my frightening her. 



I will add a few remarks on the subject here touched upon — 

 somewhat a painful one for me, as there is nothing I less like to 

 do than to disturb injuriously, or at all, if I can help it, any bird 

 that I watch. As the Eagles were incubating when I commenced 

 my observations, but had presumably abandoned the eggs (which 

 were never hatched) when I returned, in July, it would occur 

 quite naturally to anyone (more particularly to anyone who had 

 cherished designs on them)* that I was the cause of their de- 

 sertion. I will, however, mention some points that seem to me to 

 raise a doubt in regard to this, the benefit of which I should be 

 glad to give myself. These points are as follows : — 



(1) Sigurdsson felt sure that we should find the eggs hatched 

 on our arrival, and supposing them to have been healthy ones, it 

 may be assumed that they were, at least, in an advanced state 

 of development. In such circumstances, the female bird would, 

 ordinarily, sit very close, and not be easily driven away. 

 This was so in the case of a pair of Merlins which I after- 

 wards watched at much closer quarters, the female taking 

 entire charge of the eggs, though I had abundant evidence that 

 it was not fear which prevented the male from brooding them. 

 The same rule also obtained with a pair of Sparrow-Hawks 

 which I watched under conditions of perfect concealment. 



(2) The boys I have spoken of were often about, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of this eyrie, as also, presumably, the owner, or rather 

 tenant, of the land on which it was, from time to time. The 

 birds would, therefore, not be unaccustomed to people, nor do 

 they appear to be particularly shy in Iceland. According to 

 Sigurdsson they always build in the neighbourhood of human 

 habitations or belongings, and not in the uninhabited wilds. 



(3) If -closely followed, the actions of the female Eagle do 

 not seem very consistent with the theory that her frequent long 



* See a note, in this connection, in the January number of 'British 

 Birds,' p. 238. 



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