THE EAGLES OF LOCH AU ELEAN, 
By JAMES: CAMERON. 
In the southern part of Invernesshire, Scot- 
land, and within a few miles of the base of the 
Grampian range of mountains, there is a beau 
tiful little loch know in Gache by the name of 
Loch-au-Elean, the English equivalent of which 
is the ‘‘ lake with the island.” It is hemmed in 
on either side by hills covered from base to 
summit with the silver birch and spruce and 
fir. It looks at a distance like a mirror richly 
framed and the old ruined castle which rises 
abruptly from the centre of the loch adds to 
the picturesqueness of the scene. Local his- 
torians have traced the castle back to the elev- 
enth century, but beyond this date they have 
been unable to penetrate. About the sixteenth 
or seventeenth century it was used by the wolf 
of Badenoch as a refuge from his enemies. 
For the last ninety years its only tenants have 
been a couple of eagles for two or three months 
in the year, numerous owls, rabbits and rats. 
The eagles have hatched and reared their 
young on a turret of the castle without a single 
break for ninety years. The nest to-day weighs 
over three tons and is composed almost wholly 
of small sticks picked up in the neighboring 
forests. Every year additions are made to it, 
until now it stands out the most prominent fea- 
ture of the ruins. 
One of the grandest sights that one can wit- 
ness is this noble bird rising off its nest in the 
early spring morning and soaring away in su- 
preme dominion over the Grampian range with 
their snow-clad summits. Many futile attempts 
have been made to scare the eagles away from 
their favorite haunt and seize their young, but 
the proprietor of the ground has adopted every 
means available to protect them. 
I had ample opportunity of studying the hab- 
its of these Lirds, having resided within a mile 
of the loch for over a decade. There is one in- 
cident in connection with the castle which im- 
pressed itself on my memory. Three years 
ago I went home on a visit to my friends and 
was seized with an insatiable desire to get 
a look at the eaglets and the huge nest. 
There was the further inducement to pay the 
castle a visit that a score or two of rabbits had 
gone into it when the loch was covered with 
ice. There is no boat and the only accessible 
way was either to construct a raft or swim. I 
chose the latter mode, and in a very short time 
I was standing in the rude entrance to the cas- 
tle. I scrambled to the nest, but found that it 
was irapossible to climb the pile of rubbish 
that had been accumulating for close on to a 
century, and I had to retrace my steps disap- 
pointed. All this time the female eagle kept 
hovering around, rising at times in spiral move- 
ments to great altitudes. The interior as well 
as the exterior of the ruins is covered with a 
tremendous network of ivy, and in one end 
willows and birch trees have taken root in the 
crevices. The ivy has been utilized as a place 
of shelter by numerous owls, and here many 
of them build their nests. I made a search 
and had not proceeded far when a barn 
owl fluttered noislessly out of a dark recess 
and made for a clump of trees nearly opposite 
the castle. Although the fluttering of its wings 
could hardly be heard, it did not get more than 
thirty yards from the castle when one of the 
eagles swooped down on it with tremendous 
force, killing it instantly. I swam toward the 
dead owl floating on the water and on examin- 
ing it found its wing broken and head reduced 
almost to pulp. 
There are several places in Scotland where 
the golden eagle and the osprey are found. 
Two years ago a golden eagle alighted in one 
of the lonely glens of Invernesshire. It was a 
rainy day and it could not rise again. A shep- 
herd threw his plaid over it and the bird was 
taken to Glasgow and lived a considerable time 
in a cage outside the museum. 
