NATURAL HISTORY. 19'J 



Some instances have been related of children that have been 

 carried away by this eagle, but they are very doubtful. Eagles 

 certainly have pounced upon children and carried them a little 

 way, but there are no authenticated accounts of children hav- 

 ing been actually taken to the eagle's nest. 



It generally hunts in pairs, one eagle watching from some 

 height while the other courses along the ground and drives 

 the game from the bushes. The male and female remain 

 together all the year, and very probably for life. It lays two 

 eggs of a yellowish white colour with pale brownish spots, on 

 a nest composed of a great mass of sticks, rushes and grass. 

 The young are fledged about the end of July. While the 

 young are in the nest it is very dangerous to approach the 

 spot, as the Eagles are then extremely tierce and daring. The 

 Rev. Mr. Inglis gives an account of an adventure with an 

 eagle. " The farmer of Glenmark, whose name was Milu, 

 had been out one day with his gun, and coming upon an 

 eagle's nest, he made a noise to start her and have a shot. 

 She was not at home, however, and so Miln, taking off his 

 shoes, began to ascend, gun in hand. "When about half way 

 up, and in a very critical situation, the eagle made her appear- 

 ance, bringing a plentiful supply to the young which she had 

 in her nest. Quick as thought she darted upon the intruder, 

 with a terrific scream. He was clinging to the rock by one 

 hand, with scarcely any footing, Making a desperate effort, 

 however, he reached a ledge, while the eagle was now so close 

 that he could not shoot at her. A lucky thought struck him : 

 he took off his bonnet and threw it at the eagle, which imme- 

 diately flew after it to the foot of the rock. As she was re- 

 turning to the attack, finding an opportunity of taking a steady 

 aim, he shot her." 



The eye of this bird, and of most of the birds of prey, is pro- 

 vided with an arrangement for enabling it to see an object near 

 or at a great distance. The old tale of the eagle delighting to 

 gaze at the sun is equally poetical and false, the true fact being 

 that the eye is shaded from the sun by the projecting eyebrow. 

 As to the nictitating membrane which some assert to be given 

 to the Eagle in order to enable it to gaze at the sun, all birds 

 have it, and the owl, who is blinded by ordinary daylight, pos- 

 sesses it in perfection. 



