28 AQUILA CHRYSAETUS. 



said they were very rarely met so high up a mountain. Above us, at 

 a little distance, was snow and mist, and a heavy shower was falling, 

 with the sun breaking through it here and there, and shining brightly 

 on the other side of the valley. Below us the precipice seemed far 

 greater than it really is, as the hill is very steep. It had probably not 

 been visited for five or six years. 



I picked out of the nest the fragments of the shell Avhich had con- 

 tained the bird we found already hatched, and have since gummed 

 them upon a tame Goose's egg. They thus show the character of 

 marking that the Eagle's egg of which they had formerly formed 

 part had borne. 



On 26th April I re-hatched the young Eagle, whose navel had been 

 gradually contracting as the yelk receded, some urate of ammonia 

 being duly discharged through the opening. The down soon ex- 

 panded by judicious picking and puUing, each piece being enclosed 

 in a pellicle, which required bursting or slipping off. About noon he 

 opened his mouth and showed symptoms of hunger. Having pro- 

 cured two little birds, I minced up some of the breast with the liver 

 and gave it to him, whereupon he not only readily swallowed it, but 

 pecked at my blood-stained finger, his eyes being occasionally open. 

 He was by this time covered most naturally with the purest white 

 down. Soon after, we started for a long journey, and encountered 

 several severe storms of hail and snow ; but as I had him in Lord 

 Derby's little basket^ in a box packed with wool and hemp, along with 

 two pint bottles which I replenished with hot water at every stage, he 

 did not suffer. He was in bed that night, and the following day lay 

 in a hand-basket before the fire on a piece of flannel ; for he is apt to 

 swallow bits of cotton or hemp. However he died on the 28th, and I 

 sent him soaked in spirits to Mr. John Hancock. The characters 

 of the tarsi showed him to be the Golden Eagle. 



§ 33. TAree.— Argyllshire, 23 April, 1852. 



These eggs, taken from the same nest and on the same day as 

 those last year by myself, were sent to me by my guide on that 

 occasion, who says that they were taken by the forester who then 

 accompanied me. My correspondent did not receive them till some 

 time afterwards, but they were then not blown. There was a bird in 

 each, of good size, and he broke one in taking out its contents. 

 When they arrived, there were sticking to the pieces of this one tufts 



' [This seems to have been the basket in which Mr. Wolley brought away from 

 Knowsley the Griffon Vulture's egg before mentioned (§ 17), and which had also 

 been of service on another occasion. — Ed.] 



