54 HALIAETUS ALBICILLA. 



participation of the feast so long as the ravens remain 

 unsatisfied. They, meanwhile, have torn open the ab-^ 

 domen, and are tugging at the viscera. At length 

 hurried noises are heard from the carrion birds, which 

 look around in an anxious manner ; the rushing as of a 

 current of air comes on the ear of the lier-in-wait, who 

 brings his gun to his shoulder ; and, as the birds dis- 

 perse, he sees the eagle quietly seating itself on the 

 carcass, gathering up its large wings, and preparing to 

 commence the banquet. Now is the time — now, or 

 never. Forth rushes the little shower of buck-shot, 

 the terrified gulls and ravens fly off, screaming and 

 croaking, and the author of their panic, kicking out the 

 bundle of heath from the door of the hut, drags him- 

 self into open day, and runs up to the carcass, on which 

 is stretched the once formidable skimmer of the clouds, 

 now vainly struggling in the agonies of death. He 

 admires the expanded wings and large yellow beak of 

 his prey, returns for his trusty gun, throws the dead 

 eagle on his back, and leaves the carrion to the ravens, 

 until another dawn sees him enter the hut of the moors. 

 I have known a shepherd kill five eagles in this man- 

 ner on one farm in the course of a winter ; but fre- 

 quently the carcass is devoured by the ravens and gulls 

 without the occurrence of a single eagle. The hooded 

 crow also occasionally makes its appearance, but this 

 bird is less bold and less carnivorous than its sable 

 kinsman. A small premium is usually given by the 

 factors or land-stewards for every eagle killed ; and I 

 should imagine there cannot be fewer than twenty an- 

 nually destroyed in the Outer Hebrides. But a more 

 animating scene presents itself : — 



