284 Wild Birds and their Haunts 



THE GOLDEN EAGLE (AQUILA 

 CHRYSAETA). 



" r I ^HE pride and the pest of the parish " are words 

 that have been applied to this type of nobility 

 and majesty, amongst birds, in many a Scottish 

 village. True it is that in days long past its pilfering 

 instincts were more noticeable, because eagles were much 

 more numerous than now. 



In ancient mythology, and indeed in Eastern lands 

 to-day, the natives glory in the eagle's plume as the most 

 distinguished head-dress ; in fact, in India it is as indis- 

 pensable as the badge of the Highland chieftain ; and if, 

 by the trammels of system we are forced to place him in 

 a less honourable position, yet, when met with on his 

 native mountains, free and uncontrolled, one cannot refuse 

 the tribute which has undoubtedly been rendered to him 

 by chroniclers of old. 



In England and the Lowlands of Scotland the Golden 

 Eagle is accounted rare, very few districts of the former 

 country being adapted to its disposition, or suitable for 

 breeding-places. Isolated haunts may be mentioned, for 

 instance, parts of Derbyshire, Wales, Cumberland, and 

 Westmoreland, at one time boasted of them. 



' ' The Scottish border claimed several pairs, but their 

 breeding-places were rarely discovered. It is not until we 

 really enter the Highlands of Scotland proper, by one of 

 the grand and romantic passes, that this noble bird can 

 be said occasionally to occur," says a writer. 



The species must be surely rapidly decreasing, for in 

 consequence of the depredations committed amongst the 

 flocks in the lambing season, every device is employed, 

 and expense incurred in the shape of rewards for their 

 destruction. 



It is recorded that from March, 1831, for a space of three 

 years, in the county of Sutherland alone, one hundred and 

 seventy-one old birds, with fifty- three young and eggs, 



