EAGLES. 29 



a small lake, he is assailed by a fierce peregrine falcon, which darts and 

 plunges at him, as if determined to deprive him of his booty or drive him head- 

 Ion"' to the ground. This proves a more dangerous foe than the raven, and 

 the'eagle yelps, screams, and throws himself into postures of defence ; but at 

 lengtlAhe falcon, seeing that the tyrant is not bent on plundering her nest, 

 leaves him to pursue his course unmolested. 



" Over woods and scattered hamlets speeds the eagle, and now the long narrow 

 valley of the Dee appears in sight, near the upper end of which is dimly seen, 

 though the grey mist, the rock of his retreat. About a mile from it he meets 

 his mate, who has been abroad upon a similar errand, and is returning with a 

 white hare in her talons : they congratulate each other with loud yelping cries, 

 which rouse the drowsy shepherd in the strath below, who, mindful of the 

 lambs carried off in spring-time, sends after them his maledictions. Now they 



reach their nest, and are greeted by their young with loud clamour. The 

 locality where the nest is situated is the shelf of a rock, concealed by a pro- 

 jecting angle, so that it cannot be injured from above, and too distant from 

 the base to be reached by a shot. The nest is a bulky fabric, five feet at least 

 in diameter, rudely constructed of dead sticks, twigs, and heath, flat in the 

 centre, where it is a little hollowed, and covered with wool and feathers. 

 Slovenly creatures you would think those two young birds, covered with white 

 down, amongst which the feathers project, and you see that if the nest had 

 been formed more compactly and of softer materials, it would have been less 

 comfortable. Strewn around are fragments of lambs, hares, grouse, and other 

 birds, in various stages of decay. Alighting on the edges of the nest, the eagles 

 deposit their prey, partially pluck off the hairs and feathers, and rudely tear- 

 ing off the flesh, lay it before their hungry young." 



The golden eagle seems formerly to have been by no means an uncommon 



