WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. 
3 
Mutton, I think, in one form or another is the usual diet of this species, and for lamb it has 
without doubt a great partiality. It, nevertheless, exhibits its cowardly nature in procuring even such a 
helpless prey, as it is seldom that an Eagle will swoop down and carry off a lamb that is not separated from its 
mother. 
On some of the large sheep-farms, where these birds arc forced to be kept down by trapping in order to 
preserve the flocks from their attacks, but few are captured in seasons when the grass is backward. The baits 
used by the keepers or shepherds who undertake the business arc for the most part lambs and sheep that 
have died. When after a protracted winter and a dry cold spring the herbage is scarce, so many dead 
carcasses may be found in all directions scattered over the moors that there is little chance that the traps will 
be touched. In search of food in marshy spots many sheep get bogged, and, unless speedily rescued, their 
struggles cause them to sink into the soft ground and they soon die ; others also frequently attempt to make 
their way to some small green patch in the face of a precipitous cliff ; here they will remain for days till 
discovered by the shepherds and reached by means of ropes; or else in endeavouring to effect their escape they 
loose their footing and arc dashed to pieces in falling. Numbers also come down on the shore at low water to 
nibble the seaweed ; and these are almost invariably swept away by the flowing tide, as they appear to have 
not the slightest notion of retreating from the advancing water by the way that they came, but allow themselves 
to be overtaken by the flood and carried away. They swim for a short distance, but arc soon drowned, their 
bodies being afterwards cast up on some part of the coast. Erom these causes in bad seasons there is always a 
plentiful supply of food for the Eagles. 
It has so frequently been stated that it was dangerous to approach an Eagle’s nest, that I suppose there 
must have been some foundation for these reports. I am afraid if tliis was ever the ease that the Eagles of the 
present day are a sadly degenerate race. An old bird on the nest is not easily driven from her post ; but when 
once disturbed, she sweeps out from the cliffs, and either entirely takes her departure or remains circling over 
the spot at such a height as to be perfectly secure from gun-shot. This is my own experience, and it coincides 
exactly with all that I have heard from keepers, shepherds, and others who have had more opportunities of 
observing the habits of these birds than have fallen to my own share. 
I have never met with any recently-occupied nests of this species except in the face of cliffs either 
overhanging or at no great distance from the sea or salt-water lochs. Their nursery is generally a lawc 
clumsy structure of twigs and sticks, with a slight inclination to a cup-shaped resting-place for the eggs. The 
upper portion is finished off with finer materials, a few strands of long coarse grass and some small heather- 
stalks : there is generally also a quantity of the roots or stems and leaves of a bright green rush or flag-like 
plant that grows plentifully among the rocks near the shore ; when gathered it soon fades to a brown tint, and 
in this state is seen in the nests. 
Some eyries are so placed beneath the shelter of overhanging slabs of rock that to reach them appears 
almost impossible; others are simply in the face of steep cliffs, and offer no insurmountable difficulties to those 
well acquainted with the roping business ; while now and then this species will choose a spot where the very 
roughness of the ground (coarse heather springing up among large uneven blocks of stone, together with the 
twisted branches of old and weather-beaten stems, and the roots from tough and wiry bushes of mountain-ash 
or holly) renders the feat of climbing to the nest a work of very little risk even without the slightest assistance. 
I have also seen a few localities formerly used (with the remnants of the old structure still plainly visible) 
where the nest was placed openly in the slope of a hill by no means dangerously steep. It is little wonder that 
the tenants had long ceased to occupy any situation so easily assailed. 
It is a common occurrence to hear those who have visited the Highlands, and explored what they imagine 
all the wildest districts, make remarks on the scarcity of Eagles. In order to see this species in its native 
haunts the usual routes followed by tourists and sightseers must be avoided. To many parts of the coast where 
