g2 HALIAETUS ALBICILLA. 



line, the gull made a desperate sweep or stoop, anclj 

 striking the eagle on the back, he darted up again, al- 

 most perpendicular ; when, falling into the rear, he re- 

 sumed his cowardly attack. Three or four of these 

 birds, thus passing in quick succession, invariably suc- 

 ceed in harassing the eagle most unmercifully. If, 

 however, he turns his head previously to the bird's 

 striking, the gull quickly ascends without touching 

 him. This engagement continued some time, the eagle 

 wheeling and turning as quickly as his ponderous wings 

 would allow, until I lost the combatants in the rocks. 

 As soon as this is the case, the gulls leave, and quietly 

 return to the mountain." I have seen eagles fighting 

 in the air ; their motions were then beautiful, and dis- 

 played considerable agility. When the higher one ap- 

 proached the other, the latter threw itself on its back, 

 and received the foe with extended talons. Their 

 shrill screams filled the air to a great distance. 



The usual mode of destroying eagles in the Hebrides 

 is the following. In a remote part, generally on an 

 eminence, the declivity of a mountain, or the margin of 

 a precipice in which eagles breed, a pit, about six feet 

 in length and three in breadth, is dug to the depth of 

 two or three feet. The turf removed from it is ar- 

 ranged as a wall, so as to deepen the pit a foot or two 

 more. Some sticks are then laid across it, together 

 with heath, and the whole is covered over with fresh 

 turf taken from some distance. An opening large 

 enough to admit a person is left at one end, and at the 

 other is formed an aperture about six inches in diame- 

 ter. The door is closed by a bundle of heath ; and in 

 this state the pit or hut is left until all traces of labour 



