WHITE-TAILED SEA-EAGLE. 81 



or Ayrshire, — necessarily an acquired taste. I have 

 been in the habit of carrying a bit of such cheese in 

 my pocket, to give to a Penelope and other birds, and 

 to some land tortoises kept in the hot-house; and the 

 eagle does not see me pass without uttering a peculiar 

 call, intimating his desire to be remembered with a mor- 

 sel, which he catches with much adroitness, When in 

 the moult, and shying his food, we have sometimes 

 successfully bribed him with a tidbit from the poultry 

 market, such as a wild duck or a wood pigeon. On 

 one occasion, lately, an unlucky pet hen made her ap- 

 pearance within the precincts of the cage, and was de- 

 spatched in a very brief manner, — the feathers on the 

 back of the eagle's head being raised as in irritation, and 

 his eye evidently flashing with increased brightness as he 

 tasted the warm blood. He has repeatedly killed rats 

 that had been attracted by the offals of his food, and 

 has generally devoured them excepting the head and 

 tail. The village cats, when prowling about, often 

 make incursions into the garden ; and, being strangers, 

 they sometimes venture to peep into the eagle's den ; 

 but the moment they perceive the bird's keen eye 

 glancing at theirs, they skulk off in evident terror. 

 He does not require the fish given as food to be very 

 fresh, but will partake of haddocks or coalfish rejected 

 by a pair of skarts (shags) and a solan-goose kept in 

 an adjoining enclosure. We never let him want clean 

 water in his trough ; and this is made large enough to 

 permit his bathing. 



" The bird is not ferocious, but allows the gardener 

 to enter and clean out the cage without molesting him, 

 or being alarmed at his presence. This cleaning has 



