98 AQUILA CHRYSAETUS. 



by a person who had witnessed the seizure, I, and some 

 other boys, ran after the eagle, shouting- as loud as we 

 could. On reaching the brow of the hill, the bird 

 rested with its prey, but being frightened by the noise, 

 and seeing us approach, it left the lamb, which we 

 found but slightly injured, the eagle's talons having 

 been stuck into its back. 



In the Hebrides, the ravens, although they some- 

 times destroy lambs or sickly sheep, are fostered on 

 account of their enmity to the eagles, which they drive 

 away from the neighbourhood of their own station. 

 Whenever an eagle approaches the rock in which the 

 ravens have their nest, they immediately rush forth to 

 attack it. One of them flies above, the other beneath, 

 and both endeavour to peck at him, but apparently 

 without actually accomplishing their object ; and the 

 eagle seems to be glad to get away more on account 

 of their annoyance than of any real injury that he 

 dreads from them. The ravens in those islands are 

 generally the first birds to discover a dead sheep or 

 other animal ; but they have not long enjoyed the feast 

 before the eagle comes up, on which they retire to a 

 short distance, and wait until he has departed. Before 

 alighting on a carcass, this species generally sails over 

 it in short circles, often with great rapidity; and I have 

 seen several individuals thus flying around a dead sheep. 

 If the ravens have not already picked out the eyes, 

 those organs furnish the first morsels ; it then tears 

 open the abdomen. 



But the Golden Eagle seems to prefer live prey to 

 carrion, and easily secures grouse, in searching for 

 which it flies low over the moors, sailing and wheeling 



