OUR RARER BIRDS 



in mobbing them. Like the Golden Eagle, the present species 

 wanders far and wide in search of prey. Except in the pairing 

 and breeding season, the White-tailed Eagle is for the most part 

 a solitary bird, but each pair usually frequents the neighbour- 

 hood of its eyrie throughout the year. The young birds are the 

 greatest wanderers. Driven from their birthplace by theirparents, 

 they often stray southwards into England and the lowlands, 

 where they wage an incessant war on the rabbits and water-fowl. 

 The White-tailed Eagle's food is varied. It preys upon 

 almost all birds and animals that its superior prowess 

 enables it to master. It will carry off the newly -dropped 

 weakly lambs and fawns ; it chases the blue hares, rabbits, 

 and Grouse on the moors and mountains, and is an adept at 

 hunting down any wounded bird or animal. But so far 

 as my own observations of this bird extend, I have found 

 it most partial to carrion. It loves to beat lazily along the 

 beach in quest of stranded iish or any other garbage the 

 waves may chance to cast ashore, and in the inland districts 

 a dead sheep or deer is a welcome prize. I once saw a 

 White -tailed Eagle drop down on to a drowned sheep, on 

 which a number of Crows and a few Gulls were feeding. 

 He surveyed the dead animal for some time at a considerable 

 height, flying round and round before he alighted on the 

 ground a few yards away, and then leaped forward to his 

 meal. The Crows made off a little way as he approached, 

 and the Gulls fluttered buoyantly upwards to hover above, 

 or alighted on the beach, patiently awaiting his departure. 

 A shepherd whistling to his dogs on the cliffs close by 

 alarmed him, however, and he rose into the air with a 

 piece of flesh in his talons, leaving the Gulls and Crows in 

 undisturbed possession. The White-tailed Eagle is said to 

 capture living fish, something after the manner of the Osprey ; 

 but how the bird accomplishes the feat it is hard to con- 

 jecture, unless, when flying very low over the waves, he 



