14 AQUILA CHRYSAETUS. 



the lower figure of the pair represented by Mr. Hewitson [Eggs B. B. 

 ed. 3. pi. iii. fig. 2] is most typical. This same egg is perhaps of 

 about the average size. I have two very large ones, out of one nest ; 

 they are of a long- elliptical form ; one is 3"26 inches by 2"38 inches, 

 the other is 3" 13 inches by 2*38 inches. The latter is of the purest 

 white, the former like a well-coloured Iceland Falcon's. 



The eggs are hatched in Scotland about the end of April. In 

 three nests I have found young ones just coming out on the 23rd 

 April, the 27th April, and the 1st or 2nd May. These are provided 

 by nature with a little white " diamond '' on the convex part of the 

 beak to enable them to break the shell. They remain chirping inside 

 for some time after they have made a little window to get a taste of 

 fresh air ; and in the meantime the long threads with which they are 

 covered begin to dry, and to burst their thin delicate envelopes, that 

 they may be converted into a forest of snow-white down. It is a 

 curious sight to see in the middle of a huge nest these little powder- 

 puffs holding up their tottering heads, overgrown and watery-eyed, to 

 peck feebly at an intruder. Here I will leave them, only whispering 

 of their capital larder, which the Irishman and (in the case of another 

 species^) the African have each in their OAvn country learned to share. 

 The Scotchman did so too, till one day, finding a dead "serpent" 

 ready for him, his indignation got the better of his prudence, and he 

 knocked the " uncanny beasties " on the head. I must, however, add 

 that Reynard also will put in his claim ; and that he may not have to 

 travel too far for his supper, he will probably make his earth in the 

 immediate neighbourhood. 



But still one word more. Is it not worth an effort to save the last 

 remnant of this noble race — the bird which so many of the greatest 

 nations of the earth, both ancient and modern, have taken as their 

 emblem — the very highest type of SAviftness, of energy, and of power ? 

 How many people of England, France, or Switzerland itself, ever 

 saw an Eagle on the wing ? and how many have longed in vain for 

 such an incident even in the heart of the Highlands ! Of the Scotch 

 themselves, how many would now know an Eagle's quill from a 

 Turkey's if they saw it in a chieftain's bonnet, and in a land where 

 its feathers were once scarcely less prized than they still are by the 

 Indians of the Fur-Countries ? 



Fitzjames's cap was trimmed with Heron plumage; and it was the 

 Falcon that watched the chase from her cairn ; but Avhat a number of 

 ideas the Eagle supplies in Scott's glorious poem, and in all truly 



* [Aquila hcUicosa, Daudin. Lc Griffard, Levaillant, Ois. d'Afr. i. tab. 1. Aqttila 

 urjnigera, Remiie, 'Field Naturalist/ vol. i. (18.33), p. 44. — Ed.] 



