1 6 STOJilES ABOUT BIRDS. 



Sometimes the young eagles are taken out of the nests, and carried away 

 to be tamed. 



One of these tame eagles was kept by the squire — or "laird," as he 

 is called — of the district. He used to be chained in the kitchen, where he 

 had rather a happy time of it. The servants made a great fuss with him, 

 especially the cook, who fed him with every dainty. 



The eagle was very fond of her ; but one day he could not refrain from 

 stealing her shoes. She had left them just within his reach, and he pounced 

 upon them, and thrust his own feet into them. None of the other servants 

 could make him give them up ; but when the cook came back, he quietly 

 allowed her to take them off. 



THE SEA EAGLE. 



It is a grand sight to behold the sea eagle float in the blue sky far above 

 the mountain tops. 



He is at home in this higher region — this cloud-land, if we might call it 

 so. Slowly, and with great majesty, he sweeps round in a wide circle, rising 

 and rising until he is no longer to be seen. 



His food consists of dead animals, in which respect he is like the vulture. 

 He searches the lonely beach for dead fish, or young sea-birds, and he scours 

 the moors and pastures for what other prey he can find. He docs not, like 

 many of his tribe, rise high above his prey. He flies only a few hundred 

 yards above it, and sweeps the hill-sides with outspread wings. Far out at 

 sea the sailors watch him, and he has been seen to clutch at a fish that 

 happened to come to the surface. 



But this way of catching fish is now and then fatal to him. The fish, if 

 it is a large one, contrives to pull the eagle down under water, and then he is 

 drowned. Should he escape such a fate, he keeps fast hold of the fish, and, 

 half opening his wings, brings it to the shore. 



Then he takes care to get his claws at liberty, and to dry his feathers, so 

 that he can fly at a moment's notice ; after which he quietly begins his repast. 



