72 HALIAETUS ALBICILLA. 



Black Crag of Strom ness, when an eagle came sailing 

 slowly along. A hawk (probably the goshawk) was 

 observed to launch suddenly from the rock and strike 

 the eagle, when both birds fell into the sea. The eagle 

 was quickly dispatched by the boatmen, but the hawk, 

 in consideration of his bravery, they intended to treat 

 in a different way. Finding, however, that he had 

 broken his wing with the force of the blow, they laid 

 him upon a shelf of the rock, with a piece of a fish be- 

 side him ; but on visiting the place next day, they were 

 disappointed to find that the bird had disappeared, ha- 

 ving probably fallen into the sea. 



The clergyman of Hoy was walking near his house, 

 when he heard the squeak of a pig, v»'hich excited his 

 attention, as he kept none of these animals. On look- 

 ing about him he perceived an eagle sailing away to 

 Hoy Head with a young grunter iu his talons ; on 

 which he tossed up his hat, but the bird took no no- 

 tice of it. On inquiring among his neighbours, he 

 found that the pig had been taken from one of them, 

 and was just four weeks old. This circumstance, Mr 

 Forbes says, may give some countenance to the story 

 of a young child's having been carried off by an eagle 

 in Orkney many years ago. 



The following occurrence took place in Hara, Main- 

 land of Orkney. An eagle, bearing away a hen, 

 chanced to pass over a house, in the vicinity of which 

 was a sow with its litter. Thinking a nice fat pig 

 a better prize than the hen, the eagle dropped the 

 latter and attacked the pigs, but to no purpose, for 

 they ran up to the old sow, which defended them cou- 

 rageously and effectually. In the mean time the hen 



