SUNDRY INCIDENTS OF FOWL AND FOWLING 485 



except with passage-birds, wearied and resting" after long 

 flights. 



Birds of prey can hardly be included in the category 

 of wildfowl, yet two rare visitors are perhaps worth 

 recording in this chapter of odds and ends. In the 

 very hard weather towards the end of January 1881 

 an eagle (probably the white-tailed sea-eagle, Halia'etus 

 albicilla) appeared on the Northumbrian coast, near 

 Goswick, and remained for several weeks, frequenting 

 the slakes, where he fed on the plentiful supply of 

 "pensioners" which that hard winter produced. This 

 eagle was seen daily by fishermen and others, and 

 of course strenuous efforts were made to secure him, but 

 always in vain, though several guns were often engaged 

 at a time. He appeared to roost among the sand-links, 

 which are very extensive, at times alighting on some 

 disused buildings. I did not chance to fall in with the 

 eagle on any of my visits to the coast, but the mail-carrier 

 told me he saw him almost every day, usually "sitting on 

 the sands eating a ' ware-goose ' ( = brent), and with half- 

 a-dozen grey crows waiting close around." The eagle 

 remained till well on in March, when, of course, the supply 

 of " pensioners " ceased to exist. 



On December 8th, 1885, about thirty geese arrived, 

 and my boatman launched the punt to go in pursuit. 

 He noticed they were unusually tame, especially as 

 several wigeon were in their company : and had already 

 got within shot, when a "glead" appeared, having 

 apparently descended from the skies, and hovered over 

 the geese within a yard of their heads. Three times 

 they sprang, but, not daring to fly, splashed down 



again into the water just where they had risen. S 



then fired, killing three geese and two wigeon, and the 



