BLACK CHOUSE
ill these meetings, this was in all probability the spot to which he resorted to divert himself in the socicty
of the lights of his harem, Tn the first week in June 1S77, while crossing the hills in one of the northern
counties to inspect the haunts of some Golden Eagles, I met with an opportunity for observing a most
singular assemblage, and remarked the comical anil demure manner in winch these strange birds comport
themselves at their meetings at this season. Having learned from one ef the keepers that Mack Gnmn
frequently congregated on the moors n short distance on the right below the gully up which we were
then making our way, I cautiously ascended the steep bank, and having reached the summit was enabled
to overlook a ridge of the hill sloping down towards the south-east. Though the ground was clothed
with a luxuriant crop of grass, almost free from heather, with the exception of a few stunted roots, an
oblong space of some thirty or forty yards iu length could clearly be discerned where the herbage was
much worn and trampled down. Around this bare spot some thirty or forty Klaekeoeks were drawn up;
though two or three Greyhens could be distinguished, it was plain that they were not present in any
Dumber*. Nut the slightest order could be observed in the manner in which the party had arranged
themselves; three or four might be in close proximity, next n single bird or two, and then an interval
of WREN! yards, the company being on the whole evenly distributed round the aren3. Few, if any,
showed the least signs of animation, the majority, indeed, exhibiting attitudes of repose or indill'erenee;
the whole, however, without an exception faced towards the open space, and I particularly remarked that
the front lino was most admirably kept. After waiting some time in hopes of observing a geaeral
movement, I withdrew without causing the slightest alarm, and on returning au hour or so later discovered
that, little or no alteration in the general aspect of affairs bad taken place, though a few birds had strayed
away and scattered over the rough moorland stretching down the mountain-side. Eur the liest part of an
hour I delayed our return journey; at length, as there appeared little chance that any animation would now bo
infused into the inanimate group assembled, and daylight had already commenced to fade, I turned down lull,
the sound or wings a few minutes Later indicating the dissolution of the meeting. Prom the worn appearance of
the turf it was evident that this was a regular and well-freipietiled place of resort; that the spirit did not move
those who had collected to more doughty deeds on this occasion may be accounted for by the season of the
year. It was a somewhat singular fact that 1 it bin half a mile or so of this spot there was a favourite restingplace
of the Golden Eagle ; that these birds also hunted for prey over the adjacent ground I had many
opportunities for observing*.
During the summer of lSfi-S I detected by chance the nest of a Greyhen containing three fresh eggs on a
llut stretch of open moorland at least a mile and a half from the nearest cover, and, strange to say, it was 11 ithin
a few feet of the cradle of a lien-Harrier in which the eggs were then on the point uf hatching. As n ride these
birds, according to my own experience, appear to prefer a spot in the vicinity of some shelter on which to rear
their young. In several of the northern counties of the Highlands I have come across their nests within n short
distance or either the stunted birch or pine woods, or among the outlying hushes that grow here and there in
patches on the moors; in Perthshire I repeatedly found them in the groves of beech near the banks or the
I.yun. Where more cover is not to be obtained a rough and sloping bank rather than a stretch of Hal moor
is for the most part selected.
Itlack Game evince a great partiality fur grain ; at times they settle in lar^'e numbers on the stooks, causing
no small amount of damage when, as is often the case in the more remote glens, it is well on into winter
before the pieces of cultivated hind are cleared of the crop. Though I have never witnessed this Method of
poachim;. I learned from residents in more than one locality that numbers of birds are at times seeunil by
snares set on the stooks; this is doubtless an exceedingly easy means of capture unless an efficient watch is
kept. Sonic years back, uhile shooting in the nest of Perthshire, I heard an amusing account of the manner
* Thi. haunt of the tuftl.-. i- th'Ktibcd in the lust [••. 1,-1 • pagr a of the finl<li-ii Kaglo.