made their appearance. As I did not care to wait fur the return of the female, we look the young bird am!
also removed ihe Upper portion of the Met, which, as usual, contained a quantity of old newspaper anil rubbish
of all descriptions. There wen no signs or eatable food, and the only remnants were a Tew hones of a Plover
and the cleanly-picked skeleton iff a rigeon.
" 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 silenlly through
the trees just above the nest, and after hovering over the spot for a moment or two, they quickly returned in
the direction whence they came, croaking loudly as they went : another that was approaching turned hack
nt once, nnd the whole party departed together. I had no idea what could possibly have been the object
of their v Isit 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, lie was remarkably
sulky, and so persistently hid his head underneath him in the basket in which he was carried, that 1 was afraid
lie woidd be stilled.
*• I bad noticed thai while the old birds were absent the young one was ever hardly quiel, slmllling round
and round his nest, stretching himself and Happing his wings, and occasionally pecking at the old bones that
were laying beside him. On Ihe first signs of the approach of the old birds, long before 1 had made out their
note, he would drop down on the nest, nnd 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 mini 111, making a sketch of the tree, and
collecting the baggage from my shelter, we made the best of our way t o a hum with steep and wcll-woodod
banks, where we had our breakfast. It was a splendid morning ; the sky was cloudless, and I must eourcss
I found the shade of an umbrella by no means nnpirassnt '. only the previous night I had blown up an English
servant who was with me for bringing such a cockney lied invention on to a Scotch hillside ; but this morning
I was by no means above availing myself of its shade. Eor the future, when makiag out the list of articles
to take on the hills in summer, I shall never omit the homely gingham. 'While getting ready to start again,
a Golden Eagle passed within a couple of hundred yards of where we had been resting, sailing slowly over the
forest, barely dewing tin- tiqis of Ihe trees. The keepers pointed out a couple of eyries of these birds— one in
the face of a steep clitf, which they staled to be still used [although I happened to have 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 liecn, in days gone by, a grand locality for birds that have now
hecomc rare. During our morning's walk we had passed the deserted breeding-pi aces of three pairs of Kites,
and I had examined no less than four trees on w Inch there still remained the foundations of old nests that had
been built by Osprcys. After walching the Eagle, which had settled on a rock at no great distance (apparently
perfectly ignorant of our presence), lor a considerable time, we proceeded slowly on our journey, stopping a few
minutes to examine two or three small rushy lochs, where the keepers had seen some birds, which from their
description 1 could hardly make out. I have no doubt that the strangers were Hed-necked I'halaropes,
which bad rested for n short time on the pools ; there were no signs of them to-day, and I Biped it had been
but a Hying visit on their way lo t h e far north.
" On arriving at the lmthy we started as soon as the horses were put to, and reached the lodge by midday,
after a plea-ant drive through the forest.
" The young Kite was quite safe on Ids arrival, although he had apparently attempted to smother himself,
and it took no little persuasion to induce him to -wallow a meal of fre-h-killed Pigeon.
" D u r i n g the afternoon, while fishing in a burn about a couple or miles from the lodge, I was rather
surprised to see the old female Kite (easily distinguished by her ragged plumage i lly over my head, within half a
gunshot. She was about twenty-live miles distant from her nesting-quarters, and was following the same
course under the hills that I had on several occasions seen taken by these birds while passing up and
down the glen.
"30th. This morning the captive was decidedly more tractable ; during the day he consumed the meet
olT three Pigeons. The beak was very dark horu-eolour, almost black; cere king's yellow ; feet nnd legs a
pale orange-chrome ; eye pale lavender tint, which turned a deeper grey with age.
" d u l y l l l l i . The young Kite hail now reached the stage in which I wished to have him preserved. All
signs of don n bad disappeared ami be was perfectly full-Hedged, although (he tail had not attained above half
the length of an adult and showed hardly any signs of the fork, lie was getting by degrees more tame and
sociable than when we first obtained him; but nt times he was terribly sulky, and no description of food we
could provide him with would be to his liking. He was supplied, as a rule, with Ihe flesh of Pigeons anil
young rabbits. When, however, these dainties were not procurable, he was obliged to put Up with raw beef
or mutton. This change of diet he evidently looked Upon as an insult, and it required considerable cue
to induce him to retain his meals. As it did not seem that he would ever licconie perfectly iwoneQed
to confinement, I had much less reluctance lo sign bis death-warrant than i hit of a piir of v mug i l-preys
the previous week. After I had taken his portrait in scleral different positions, he was executed this
morning and forwarded to the south for preservation.
" Considering the pains that had been taken to rear this trouhle-omc customer, the people of the inn ire
were stopping at were greatly surprised at his death. ' What !' exclaimed one of the attendants, ' is the puir
wee beaslie to he killed the noo, and twelve and sax pence paid for hi- meal ! Well 1 well! '
" Having quite accidentally heard of another Kite's ue-t in a different locality, we left our present quarters,
and drove as near the wood as the state of the road would allow us. On llus occasion the Kid's hud taken up
their residence in an extensive fir-wood, covering a steep hill-side sloping down to a large loch. While
approaching the breeding-place we proceeded with great caution, ill case the old birds might lie Dear at hand.
The nesl was placed about live and twenty bet from the ground, Dear the lop of B -mall Scotch tir. The men
bad stated there was but one young bird ; we could, however, plainly make out a pair when we examined Ihe
nest through the glasses, and both sat perfectly quiet when we drew near the spot and stood on a rocky knoll,
from which we could look right down upon them.
" There were apparently no signs of the old birds, so we retired a few hundred yards in order to avail
ourselves of the shade of the large tires by the loeh-side and give time for theui to return with prey for the
young, as, while examining the nest, we had been unable to detect any food. After wailing about tin hour I
returned towards the nest, and, while cautiously descending the steep hrne that overlooked the Iris', I noticed
that one of the birds had shifted ils position ; and as it now sat with iis forked tail in full view, I dlaeorered
that instead of two young ones, the old female had been all the time on the uest. While Marching for au
opening among the branches for the best chance of a shot at her as she Mew off, my fool slipped on Ihe sloping
ground, which the dry weather and the fallen spines of Ihe lirs had rendered like gln-s, and down I came,
flat on my Uiek, luckily just missing by less than an inch a frightfully broken ami jagged slump of a dead
tree. Before 1 could .scramble up, being considerably shaken, but nevertheless exceedingly thankful wlnu I
discovered my narrow escape, the old bird, probably startled by the fall, left the nest, nnd, gliding rapidly
below the branches of the trees, was out or sight in a moment Before many minutes had elap-cd, both male
and female were sailing round and round at a great height over the spot, and, gradually extending the circles
when the keepers came down to see what had happened, they at length disappeared entirely from view. Tho
young bird now fully showed itself; and as it appeared quite cajiahle of Hying, 1 took up a position b l ow the
tree while one of the men went up lo drive it off. He had not mounted abow hallway lo the nest when it
spread its wings and made an attempt to escape. I had now picked out more secure standing-ground, and an