2 
OSPREY. 
and pointed limbs, may bar the passage, and a circuitous course will have to be taken in order to avoid sucli 
impracticable obstacles. Being screened from nearly every breath of wind, the atmosphere in sultry weather is 
almost stilling : clouds of poisonous midges and flics in myriads buzz and hum around one s head ; to rest is 
utterly impossible, the incessant attacks of the insects preventing all attempts at peace and quietness. Those 
who have struggled to the haunts of the Osprey in these localities will, I am afraid, bear away few pleasing 
memories of their visit to the district. 
As a rule, these birds return to some old and weather-beaten nest, which is generally put slightly into 
repair on their first arrival, before the eggs are laid. This is not, however, always the case, as I once observed 
a female on a nest, which, when examined, appeared to have been untouched lor at least a twelvemonth. 
The eggs were on a soft carpet of moss, green and perfectly alive, covering entirely in one mass the whole 
foundation of sticks, and showing plainly that no additions could have been made that season. 
In some of the forests and on the strictly-preserved estates they may still be found so numerous, that 
two, or even three, breeding- stations might be visited in the course of a single day. In the more open 
districts, where strangers are allowed to wander as they think fit, the poor Osprey has either entirely 
disappeared, or is only an occasional visitor to those regions where formerly, during the whole of the summer 
season, he was sure to be found “ at home.” 
The fact that the present species holds its own simply where its safety is guarded by foresters or 
keepers, is one answer to the arguments of those ranting sentimentalists who preach against all preserving, 
urging that every living creature is sacrificed to make way for game, and strongly recommending that 
keepers should be abolished and the balance of nature restored. No sane person, however, can have the 
slightest doubt, if such an undesirable state of affairs ever came to pass, that not only game, but every species 
of bird that at present adds such a charm to the wildest scenes would speedily disappear before what these 
purveyors of twaddle would term the advance of civilization. Notwithstanding all that has been written or 
said against him, the gamekeeper and his assistants arc the greatest protectors to the whole of the feathered 
tribe. 
The nests in the more northern districts were, with few exceptions, formerly placed on rocks or large 
slabs of stone in the freshwater lochs. I have visited at different times several of these localities ; but in 
every case the eyrie was deserted, and at most only a few sticks remained to mark the spot. In one instance, 
on an island in a loch in the midst of a very wild and desolate stretch of country, I found on a low bush, or rather, 
if I remember right, an old twisted birch-stump, at the height of not more than four or five feet from the ground, 
a very large nest, which was said to have been formerly built by these birds. Although the structure still held 
together, it was evident it had not been used for many years ; but the size of the sticks and the substantial 
manner in which it had been put together prevented it from falling to pieces. I have frequently observed the 
remains of other old nests, almost similarly placed, in various stages of preservation, when I have visited the 
islands in some of the remote liill-lochs. In several cases I think it was doubtful whether the former occupants 
had been of this species or the Sea-Eagle. 
Those who have ever read the graphic account given by the late Charles St. John of his adventures in the 
Northern Highlands will readily call to mind the description of how his friend Dunbar gallantly swam out to 
the rocks on which the Ospreys’ nests were placed. To reach the islands in this manner was entirely beyond 
my powers ; so I used for this purpose, and also to search the shores, which were in many parts quite un- 
approachable from the marshy character of the ground, an india-rubber boat, which is a most handy invention 
being easily carried in a small pack, and taking barely five minutes to got ready to go afloat. The labour 
of dragging the ordinary boats of the country to some of the required spots, many miles from even the 
roughest tracks, would be an undertaking of the greatest difficulty. On freshwater lochs I have never met 
