42 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



sion by withdrawing the attention of the Lii'd 

 from his Liped tormentors, and just as the talons 

 of each foot were respectively lodged in the ribs 

 and throat of the howling cur, and when another 

 moment would have seen one of his eyes cleverl}' 

 scooped out, a blow on the back of the head laid 

 the poor eagle 



" stretched upon the plain, 



No more through rolling clouds to soar again. 



Note. — While these pages are passiug through the 

 press, I have received information from Sir Charles 

 Taylor that a large eagle, lately observed in his neigh- 

 bourhood, had been subsequently trapped in one of the 

 great woods on the Cowdray estate. Being naturally 

 anxious to examine, or perchance obtain a specimen of 

 an eagle found so near me, I was just preparing to 

 start in quest of it, when Lord Egmont kindly anti- 

 cipated my wishes by sending it to me. It proved to 

 be a male cinereous or sea eagle, in immature, but un- 

 injured plumage. I have ascei^tained that the last 

 chapter in his biography was as follows : — The bird 

 had for three weeks frequented the wooded district 

 in that picturesque portion of the weald which lies 

 l)etween HoUycombe and Henley Hill, about twenty 

 miles from the coast, and was evidently hitherto in- 

 debted for his escape rather to the impracticable nature 

 of his haunts than to any cunning or vigilance of his 

 own. He had been seen several times near some old 



