10 
KITE. 
made their appearance. As I did not care to wait for the return of the female, we took the young bird and 
also removed the upper portion of the nest, which, as usual, contained a quantity ol old newspaper and rubbish 
of all descriptions. There were no signs of eatable food, and the only remnants were a few bones of a Plover 
and the cleanly-picked skeleton of a Pigeon. 
“ it is, I think, very likely that, in the absence of the old birds, Crows at times pay visits to the larder of 
the nestlings in quest of food. Shortly before daybreak, I had noticed a couple of Crows fly silently through 
the trees just above the nest, and after hovering over the spot for a moment or two, they quickly returned m 
the direction whence they came, croaking loudly as they went ; another that was approaching turned back 
at once, and the whole party departed together. I had no idea what could possibly have been the object 
of their visit or the cause of their speedy return till I became aware of the empty state of the larder. 
“ The young bird was slightly larger than those I had taken a couple of years before. He was remarkably 
sulky, and so persistently hid his head underneath him in the basket in which lie was carried, that I uas afraid 
he would be stilled. 
“ I had noticed that while the old birds were absent the young one was ever hardly quiet, shuffling round 
and round his nest, stretching himself and flapping his Avings, and occasionally pecking at the old bones that 
were laying beside him. On the first signs of the approach of the old birds, long before I had made out their 
note, he would drop down on the nest, and puffing up his feathers would quietly await his food, only 
occasionally answering their continued cries by a low whistle. 
“ After packing up a portion of the nest which I wished to examine, making a sketch of the tree, and 
collecting the baggage from my shelter, we made the best ol our way to a burn with steeji and well-wooded 
banks, where we had our breakfast. It was a splendid morning ; the sky Aias cloudless, and I must confess 
I found the shade of an umbrella by no means unpleasant : only the previous night I had blown up an English 
servant ivlio was Avitli me for bringing such a cockneyfied invention on to a Scotch hillside ; but this morning 
I Avas by no means above availing myself of its shade. Eor the future, when making out the list of articles 
to take on the hills in summer, 1 shall never omit the homely gingham. While getting ready to start again, 
a Golden Eagle passed within a couple of hundred yards of where Ave had been resting, sailing slouly over the 
forest, barely clearing the tops of the trees. The keepers pointed out a couple of eyries of these birds — one in 
the face of a steep cliff, Avhicli they stated to be still used (although I happened to liaA-e seen the green grass 
growing through the bottom of the old nest), and the other on the opposite side of the glen, and some miles 
further south, in a large Scotch fir. This had been, in days gone by, a grand locality for birds that have now 
become rare. During our morning’s walk avc had passed the deserted breeding-places of three pairs of Kites, 
and I had examined no less than four trees on Avhicli there still remained the foundations of old nests that had 
been built by Ospreys. After watching the Eagle, Avhicli had settled on a rock at no great distance (apparently 
perfectly ignorant of our presence), for a considerable time, avc proceeded sloAvly on our journey, stopping a few 
minutes to examine two or three small rushy lochs, Avliere the keepers had seen some birds, Avhich from their 
description I could hardly make out. 1 have no doubt that the strangers Avere Red-necked Phalaropes, 
Avhicli had rested for a short time on the pools ; there were no signs of them to-day, and I expect it had been 
but a flying visit on their Avay to the far north. 
“ 0n arriving at the bothy avc started as soon as the horses were put to, and reached the lodge by midday, 
after a pleasant drive through the forest. 
“ Tllc y° un S Kite was finite safe on his arrival, although he had apparently attempted to smother himself, 
and it took no little persuasion to induce him to swallow a meal of fresh-killed Pigeon. 
“ I)ui ' in S the afternoon, while fishing in a burn about a couple of miles from the lodge, I was rather 
surprised to see the old female Kite (easily distinguished by her ragged plumage) fly over my head, within half a 
gunshot. She was about twenty-five miles distant from her nesting-quarters, and was following the same 
