4 HILL BIRDS OF SCOTLAND 



direction. My experience has been that the space of 

 time during which the third eyehd covers the eye is merely 

 a fraction of a second, and I do not think it has been in- 

 vestigated whether it is used as a permanent protection, 

 but when an eaglet is frightened or annoyed the third eye- 

 lid is repeatedly brought into play. The old saying, to 

 the effect that the eagle has the power of looking straight 

 at the sun, may indeed have its explanation in the Third 

 Eyelid. 



But though on a day of storms the power of flight of 

 the eagle is magnificent in its strength, during weather 

 when only a faint breeze rustles the heather on the hill- 

 top the King of Birds is laboured, even ungainly in his 

 movements. At times such as these he resembles in his 

 progress a gigantic rook, beating the air with ponderous 

 flaps of those great wings of his until he reaches an altitude 

 sufficient for him to bring into play his soaring powers. 

 Instances are, indeed, on record of eagles, after feeding 

 heavily on some fallen sheep or deer, being quite unable 

 to rise from the long heather of their sheltered surround- 

 ings. To my knowledge there have been two instances 

 of an eagle rising steadily and rapidly from a low level 

 until he was actually lost to view in the blue vault of 

 heaven. In the first case I was privileged to see the great 

 bird execute this extraordinarily impressive manoeuvi'e, 

 and more recently a hill stalker recounted to me his ex- 

 perience, which agreed closely with my own. The glen 

 where the incident happened was a deep one, and rising 

 from it was a precipice close on 1000 feet in height where 

 the eagle and his mate have had their home for generations. 

 For days on end tropical weather had prevailed amongst 

 the high hills. Not a cloud had crossed the sky, and only 

 the lightest of breezes arose with the noon to lighten the 

 burden of the heat. Then one day the^north wind crossed 

 the sea, and arrived at the eagle's home. And the eagle 



