BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 201 
moody as the most precipitous rocky mountain he knew 
of m the south of Scotland. He uses the word ^over- 
hangs' the loch; but, surely Mr. Macgilhvray's con- 
scientiousness is not so straight-laced as to be unable to 
tolerate a figurative expression almost common-place 
when appHed to scenery. Mr. MacgilHvray says, that a boat 
Ims been conveyed to the loch. W. L. cannot doubt it ; 
but no boat had ever been conveyed to Loch Skene, that 
€ver he heard of, before he left the country. But W L 
beheves that the Earl of Traquair, either the late Lord 
Charles, or his uncle, his predecessor, sent his gamekeeper 
and other servants, one of whom was an expert swimmer 
who swam to the islet, and with much difficulty, owing 
to the opposition of the old birds, brought off the eaglets • 
and from that time the eagles made their nests in Loch 
^kene no more. W. L. has contributed to the Magazine 
of Natural History almost from its commencement, and never 
^1<ited a fact that he did not beheve to be true. He has 
continued to write anonymously, no doubt ; but his name 
And address he took care to make known to the conductor, 
that reference might be given if required."* 
William Laidlaw, who was secretary to Sir Walter 
Scott, was an able ornithologist and naturalist and under 
the imtials W. L. frequently contributed to the Magazine 
of Natural History, about 1835. The eyrie at Garwald 
Grains mentioned by him may have been tenanted by this 
species, or by the Golden Eagle, and it is at this date 
impossible to determine. But the island in Loch Skene is 
recorded by subsequent writers as a nesting-place of the 
White-tailed Eagle, and though undoubtedly this species 
has been much mixed up with the Osprey, I do not think 
William Laidlaw would be likely to confuse two birds with 
which in those days he would be familiar. 
" In the Statistical Account of Scotland, in the article 
on Lyne and Megget, it is stated that this species of Eagle 
builds Its nest on a small island in Loch Skene, and 
* Mag. Nat. Hist., 1837, Vol. I., p. 443. 
