THE GOLDEN EAGLE 13 



swept earthward and was just about to alight when he 

 spied Reynard lying asleep within a few feet of him. 

 His surprise — and alarm — were great, and he shot sky- 

 wards again with considerable speed, but the fox merely 

 raised his head inquiringly and then resumed his nap. 

 I heard recently of an eagle being disturbed in a Scots fir 

 just as it had commenced to feed on a magpie which it 

 had captured. The eagle on the approach of the stalker 

 sailed away out of sight, but somewhat exceptionally, I 

 think, returned later to finish its victim. 



St. John in his now classical work on Wild Sports in 

 the Highlands, states that the Martin and the Wild Cat 

 are the eagle's favourite morsels. I much doubt, how- 

 ever, whether St. John was correct in his statement — at 

 all events both of these animals are so scarce that they are 

 negligible at the present day as an article of food. An 

 eagle has been known to stoop at a hare pursued by hounds 

 and carry it off a hundred yards before them. It is said 

 to attack Gannets, but I much doubt whether this is really 

 the ease, and more than likely the observer confused the 

 aggressor with a specimen of the White-tailed Eagle, 

 which is a frequenter of our coast-line. The Golden Eagle 

 is almost entirely an inland nester in this country, and as 

 the Gannet never flies across the most minute point of 

 land, in the ordinary course of events the two birds are 

 unlikely ever to come to close quarters. The Golden 

 Eagle will sometimes capture and devour black game, 

 but owing to the habits of these birds — they frequent 

 thick pine woods as a rule — they usually succeed in avoid- 

 ing the attacks of the eagle by diving headlong amongst 

 the sheltering pine branches. 



Though the eagle undoubtedly prefers to capture his 

 prey for himself, he is not above descending to carrion, 

 and often becomes gorged on the remains of a dead stag 

 or sheep. I do not think, however, that his young are 



