60 HALIAETUS ALBICILLA. 



of Loch Suainebhad, in the same island, a pair of these 

 birds annually rear their young. A woman, who had 

 been in the moors looking after cattle, was descending 

 the rocks by a difficult path, when the two eagles at- 

 tacked her with great fury. She defended herself, 

 however, in the best manner she could, and escaped 

 with some severe scratches and the loss of her cap. 



On observing a person walking near their nest, they 

 fly around him at a respectful distance, sailing with 

 outstretched wings, occasionally uttering a savage 

 scream of anger, and allowing their legs to dangle, 

 with outspread talons, as if to intimidate him. I have 

 observed them thus occupied, when on the edge of a 

 precipice five hundred feet high, with a very steep 

 slope above me, bounded by rocks, and from which I 

 could not have made my escape had the birds been re- 

 solute. Although on such occasions they are in gene- 

 ral extremely cautious, notwithstanding their manifest 

 anxiety for the safety of their young, yet I once saw 

 an eagle come within an hundred yards, when it was 

 brought down with buckshot by a friend whom I had 

 accompanied to the place. 



In the Hebrides, the raven is perpetually harassing 

 the eagle, which its superior agility enables it to do 

 with safety, although I have never seen it venture to 

 come into actual contact with its powerful adversary. 

 The hooded crow, which is also very common there, 

 never, I believe, makes even a shew of opposition to 

 the eagle ; and I have not seen any other bird molest- 

 ing it, unless it might be its brother the golden eagle. 

 But in Shetland, according to Mr Drosier, the skua or 

 bunxie no sooner sees the eagle within its domains than 



