WHITE- TAILED SEA-EAGLE. 71 



throws stones and sand into the eyes of the ox, and 

 completes the terror of the animal hy hlows with its 

 powerful wings. The blinded oxen run about quite 

 raving, and at length fall down completely exhausted, or 

 dash themselves to death from some cliff. The eagle 

 then mangles, undisturbed, the fruits of its victory." 

 If this tale be true, the Norwegian eagles must be very 

 different from ours in courage and sagacity ; for the 

 British eagles, in so far as I have seen, are so coward- 

 ly that they do not even venture to defend their nests 

 against a solitary rocksman, dangling upon a rope like 

 a spider upon a thread, and so weak, or rather so un- 

 able to rise with speed, that they seldom attempt to car- 

 ry off a lamb unless in windy weather, and from an 

 eminence. But as to eagles plunging into the waves 

 with the view of getting drenched, in order that sand 

 might adhere to their draggled plumes, and then flying 

 off to blind oxen with it, — this requires to be esta- 

 blished by respectable witnesses before it can be cre- 

 dited. 



My friend Mr Forbes has favoured me witli some 

 interesting particulars relative to the history of the 

 eagles which occur in the Orkney Islands. There are 

 two species, he says, in that country, the White-tailed 

 or Cinereous Eagle, and the Golden or Ring-tailed 

 Eagle. Of the white-tailed the following breeding 

 places are known: — White Breast, Dwarfie Hammers, 

 and Old Man, in Hoy ; South Ronaldshay and Costa 

 Head, in Mainland. Of the golden eagle : — Snook, to 

 the east of Rackwick, and a rock to the west of the 

 same place, in Hoy ; and the Meadow of Kaimes. 



Some people were out fishing in a boat near the 



