A GOLDEN EAGLE. 25 



The sun had now vanished behind the clouds and huge 

 drops of rain began to fall. The corrie became dark 

 and gloomy and the Eaglet cried ravenously for food, 

 his small voice echoing at intervals through the howling 

 gusts of wind which preceded the coming storm. As 

 if in answer to him, his mother again swooped in and 

 for the next half hour steadily gorged him with the flesh, 

 liver and heart of grouse. The light was hopeless 

 for photography, but I crouched in my hiding-place 

 fascinated by the sight of this wild creature feeding 

 her young in my presence, unconscious of the close 

 proximity of man. She fed herself and the Eaglet 

 alternately until he crawled back satisfied into the 

 nest. At that moment a peal of thunder awoke 

 the echoes of the hills, and through my peep-hole 

 I saw the Eagle vanish into the swiftly falling mist. 

 A jagged flash of lightning crossed the small section 

 of the sky which was within my view and the rain 

 fell in torrents, while the Eaglet squeaked piteously, 

 trembling and shivering with the cold. In a few 

 seconds she returned, and he crept close to her 

 breast for shelter. She touched him gently with her 

 beak as though to quiet his fears and to assure him of her 

 protection. And now peal followed peal and flash 

 followed flash, while, to add to the tumult, a rock, 

 loosened by the storm, crashed headlong past my hiding- 

 place to hurl itself into the burn below. During a gust 

 of wind which drowned the sound of my retreat, I 

 crawled away, and thus I left them, the mother Eagle 

 and her child, to face the storm together throughout the 

 long watches of the night. 



On my next visit to the eyrie I found the Eaglet 

 gorged and asleep, the parents being absent. He was 

 literally surrounded by the remains of leverets and 

 rabbits, but for the most part they were mere skeletons 

 which had been devoured during the previous day. 

 In this connection it was noticeable that the leverets 



