OSPREY. 
183 
and several specimens have been procured from 
thence. Two were shot on the property of Lord 
Home, while frequenting some extensive sheets 
of water, the resort of immense quantities of 
water-fowl ; and another was killed on the river 
in 1835. Crossing the Forth, we shall find a pair 
at least, frequenting each of the larger lochs ; 
and in Ross and Sutherland they are even more 
abundant. In some districts, four or five may 
be seen during the day ; and at the mouth of 
the Laxford, in the latter county, we daily saw 
from two to four fishing at the retreat of the 
tide ; three were frequently seen fishing at a 
time. 
It is north of the Forth, also, that the Osprey 
breeds, for we have no recorded instance of the 
duties of incubation being performed in the south. 
The numerous lochs of the Highlands are thickly 
studded with islands, wild and rocky, rich and 
picturesque. On many of them, are the remains 
of buildings, towers or castles, created in the 
cause of religion or of war, but now crumbling 
fast with the advance of time. The chimney of 
these, or, if it be wanting, the highest pinnacle of 
the ruin, is selected for the site of the eyry, and 
on this is built a nest of large and unwieldy 
structure, composed of sticks and branches. On 
some islands where no ruin stands, the highest 
rock is chosen ; and on Loch Menteith, the old 
