212 



BIRDS. 



preservation. Once move— the pity of it ! Thus can be so easily traced 

 the steps in this so pitif ul tale. Who can doubt, unless blinded by 

 utter and sheer ignorance, that, if the hen had not been shot, and after 

 that, if the tree, so admirably suited to the Ospreys' requirements, had 

 not been ruthlessly destroyed, and after that again if this bird had 

 not been ruthlessly murdered, that Loch Ordie would still have 

 maintained its beautiful and harmless birds'? I cannot write down 

 this mournful history without " almost tears." We here, with all our 

 boasted civilisation, are one half-centur}^ behind in such affairs — and 

 may those feel it who have been to blame ! 



To carry still farther this tale of woe, another was slain on the 31st 

 of August 1887, which was, with scarcely a shadow of doubt, one of the 

 pair of yet another more northern locality — another eyrie depleted. 



There was another, as I have before told, which was killed at 

 Loch an Eilean, 3rd April 1888 ; but this one was not killed by human 

 agency (at least not directly !), but was killed in battle with another of 

 its own family — probably the surviving bird of the Loch Ordie eyrie 

 — when fighting for a mate. Finally, I find the Loch Ordie Osprey 

 entered in a list of rarities which have occurred on the Atholl estates 

 during the past forty years. I am indebted to His Grace the present 

 Duke for these lists ; and I feel sure that if the Ospreys ever returned 

 again to Loch Ordie he would look better after their preservation 

 — at least, let us hope so. 



If that could be so, even yet I would not despair of the successful 

 rehabilitation of our Ospreys' older and later eyries. If some sufficient 

 strength of mind, of men who could protect, would be displayed, and if — 

 to quote a writer on another theme, but with much parallel significance 

 — "If such matters were seized upon by an intelligent and effective 

 executive, which sets to work at once instead of wasting time on 

 useless discussions, as for the most part we have been doing in British 

 possessions for the last number of years, something might be done " 

 yet to save the Ospreys of Scotland. 



The passage within quotation marks refers to the extirpation of 

 Culex at Ismailia, as reported in Nature of July 16, 1903 {q.v.). It 

 might well apply to the conservation of our Ospreys. ^ 



^ To further illustrate what I have in my mind. There is a well-known evasion in many 

 public offices and trusts, and " unbusiness-like business," when a difficult point in discus- 

 sion arises. Some more than usually obfuscated councillor gets up on his hind legs 

 and says : "Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I beg to propose that we appoint a committee 

 to consider this matter." Joyfully, some one else " seconds " this flash of intellect, and 

 so things are shelved, to the intense relief of the whole body of the parties present. 



