16 
FALCONIDjE. 
top of a stack, that is, a steep detached rock; and 1 
have seen another such stack on the north-east coast 
of Scotland, which was also said to have an eyrie at its 
summit. 
In inland situations the Sea-Eagle is rare when com¬ 
pared with the Mountain Eagle (as the Golden Eagle is 
usually called), and it generally establishes itself upon 
a rock or islet in the middle of a loch. Here it builds, 
upon the ground, or in a tree, a nest, whose construction 
does not at all differ from that of the other eagle, there 
being always in it a certain amount of Luzula sylvatica. 
The tree need by no means be a large one; I have 
seen two nests of different years in trees on separate 
islands in one loch, each only about four feet from the 
ground. I can at this moment call to mind nine in¬ 
stances where I know the localities of such island eyries. 
The old birds do not always calculate the depth of the 
water, as there is one place at least to which a man can 
wade; where swimming is necessary, it is often an affair 
of danger, as the birds will do their best to drown the 
enemy with their wings. In two spots I have seen large 
Scotch firs which have been formerly tenanted by Sea- 
Eagles; one by the side of a loch, the other several miles 
away from any piece of water, in a sort of open wood 
of similar trees. The nest had been in a fork where 
three branches met, twenty feet high ; and, as in other 
cases, the main trunk bore its weight. In one instance, 
the crossed and nearly horizontal trunks of two small 
trees formed the support; one that I have already spoken 
of was in a small alder tree, and had been repaired and 
often frequented by the eagles the season I saw it, yet 
a hooded crow had eggs in the upper branches, and 
wild geese and ducks were sitting in the deep moss and 
long heather within twenty yards. I have not myself 
