148 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



disquieting effect. Finally, I was so much nearer to the Merlins 

 whilst watching them, with the tent so much more exposed, that — 

 since, according to Darwin, there is no real relation between shy- 

 ness and size — it is rather a puzzle to say why my presence should 

 have been so much better tolerated in the one case than the other. 



For it must not be supposed that because the eggs of an 

 Eagle here are more coveted than those of a Merlin, the latter 

 are therefore let alone. Nothing is let alone. All is " obtained " 

 when and wherever it is obtainable. No doubt the different kinds 

 of property are taken with different degrees of eagerness, but, 

 since taken they are, this should not affect the views and sensa- 

 tions of the various owners, so that one may well ask why a 

 Merlin, in Iceland, should be more tolerant of humanity than a 

 Sea Eagle ; and, as a matter of fact, it is the smaller of these 

 two tyrants that keeps farthest away from the grand one. 

 It is violently moved, too, whenever the latter shows himself in 

 the vicinity — even the not very near vicinity — of its nest. Yet 

 the facts were as stated. The birds soon reconciled themselves 

 to the presence of the tent, or, rather, they never seemed to care 

 about it, close as it was, and once I was inside it, they thought 

 no more about me. So great a difference, with the other facts I 

 have adduced, does, I think, raise a legitimate doubt as to 

 whether I was really the cause of the catastrophe. But I do 

 not wish to shirk my responsibilities either. Very likely I was, 

 and this will always be matter of keen regret to me. Let me 

 now, however, speak of what I have done to make amends. 



As before stated, before coming out to Iceland I had bought, 

 or, rather, hired this Eagles' eyrie for observational purposes, and, 

 before leaving, I did so again, prospectively, for the following 

 year, on the understanding that the birds should be allowed to 

 hatch their eggs and rear their young, without disturbance from 

 anyone. Accordingly, in the spring of 1913, one, at least, of 

 these potential eggs existed, and became an eaglet, which, 

 having successfully accomplished the days of its nursery, was 

 launched, in due course, upon the air. But this was not all, for 

 I have been happily instrumental in helping, not only this one 

 pair of birds, but every Eagle in Iceland, as well as all the 

 individuals that there inhabit, of some twenty other species, 

 from the first moment of their first birth (for a bird may be 



