168 
BIRDS. 
south-east, has again been tenanted for the last two or three 
years, and most of the other eyries are still used. 
In one glen six of these birds have been seen at one 
time ; some of these would probably be young birds reared 
by a pair of birds that breed regularly there. 
Two or three specimens of this bird are shot or trapped every 
year in the southern part of Caithness, but it is not known 
to breed. Berriedale and Ousdale produce the greater 
number of these, which are obtained principally in the 
autumn and winter (0. MSS., 1868). 
In the British Museum is an immature male golden 
eagle, with two distinct white shoulder epaulettes, as in the 
Imperial eagle, and we have seen others shot in this county 
having the same markings.^ One of these we saw in the 
collection of Mr. Lewis Dunbar at Thurso. The one in the 
British Museum was shot at Berriedale by Mr. D. Eoss, 
gamekeeper, on February 18, 1878, and was purchased from 
Mr. L. Dunbar for the British Museum by Dr. Gunther. 
Ousdale, to the south of Berriedale, seems to be a favourite 
place of call for eagles on passage, many having been 
obtained by the keeper there, especially in the yea.r 1879, 
when, between April 8th and May 1 3th, he obtained no less 
than five (L. Dunbar). Mr. Dunbar notes the golden eagle 
as increasing in numbers, whereas all other indigenous 
raptors are marked as decreasing. In the Welbeck collec- 
tion are three specimens, one a very fine old bird (J. 
Whitaker). 
170. Halieetus albicilla (L.). White-tailed Eagle. 
Eesident ; not so abundant as the golden eagle in this county, 
and their eyries principally confined to the coast-line, and 
can be counted on one's fingers. A position, said to be 
perfectly inaccessible, is at a point a little east of Whiten 
Head, on the north coast. Another, nearer Cape Wrath, is 
^ This epauletting appears to occur only in immature birds. 
