THE GOLDEN EAGLE 25 



when the birds of prey have young, and the kids are used 

 largely in feeding the eaglets. 



A mysterious fate often overtakes one of the eaglets 

 in an £yrie when two birds are hatched out. Various 

 theories have been put forward to account for this disap- 

 pearance. Highland stalkers will tell you that the mother 

 eagle herself does away with the more weakly of her chicks, 

 or even that a battle takes place between the two small 

 eaglets and that the less powerful is killed in the conflict. 

 I imagine that food has a great deal to do with the 

 disappearance of one of the eaglets. Sometimes, too, 

 one of the birds probably falls out of the nest, but it is 

 certainly noteworthy that no small body is ever found. 



The eagle is essentially a bird of silence. When leaving 

 her eyrie the hen rarely utters a single cry, and not even 

 when the young are in danger does she use her call note. 

 There are exceptions, however, and I have once or twice 

 heard her call, several times in succession, as she sailed 

 out from the nest. The eagle almost invariably flies right 

 away when disturbed from her eyrie, but on a certain 

 occasion that I shall always remember, the great bird 

 displayed remarkable tameness. She left her eggs with 

 obvious reluctance, and then flew only a short distance, 

 to a dead branch of a pine rather over 100 yards distant. 

 After waiting a time, she actually flew straight towards 

 me, settling on a tree close by. Her anxiety as to the 

 safety of her eggs was great, and she searched the sky 

 eagerly, expectantly, for her mate, on whom she evidently 

 relied for support. But no dark form against the clouds 

 rewarded her gaze, and she gave utterance to a succession 

 of curious barking cries quite unlike anything I have ever 

 heard before or since, until she again took wing, and this 

 time sailed right out of sight. 



Most of the pairs of eagles of my acquaintance have 

 two or even three eyries, which they use in rotation, in 



