142 



disposition of these eagles, and purchase from the 

 Russians of Samara, at a very great price, eaglets 

 taken from the nest, to train them to hunt the wolf, the 

 fox, and the gazelle. 



The scent of this bird being feeble, he hunts only 

 by sight. Though he elevates himself in the air above 

 all other birds, yet he rises from the ground with 

 difficulty, especially when overloaded, from the want 

 of suppleness in his legs ; yet he can carry oflf geese, 

 cranes, hares, young lambs, and birds : it is even pre- 

 tended that in Scotland children have been found in 

 his nest. 



If it is true that the young eagles are chased from 

 the nest as soon as they are able to fly, this habit 

 would appear derived from the difficulty with which 

 birds of prey procure subsistence. Yet it is well 

 known, that when a mountaineer has discovered an 

 eagle's nest, he can supply himself for some time with 

 an ample store of provision by subtracting the game 

 he finds there during the absence of the old ones. It 

 is even pretended that by tying down the young, he 

 can prolong the period of his robberies. These facts 

 but ill agree with the precipitate expulsion, or rather 

 with the above solution of it. Smith, too, in his 

 history of Kerry, relates a story as little in accordance 

 with it. A poor inhabitant of that county provided 

 for his family abundantly for an entire j^ear, by taking 

 from an eagle's nest the food brought there by the 

 parents: and that he might prolong their attentions 

 be3'ond the ordinary period, he contented himself with 

 clipping the wings of the eaglets to retard their volun- 

 tary departure. 



Klein mentions one which lived at Vienna one 

 hundred and four years in a state of captivity." 



I have seen one or two Golden Eagles in the West 

 of Ireland soaring high above the cliffs: — 



