28 THE HOME-LIFE OF 



seen me enter, for on this occasion I had neglected the 

 precaution of bringing my ally the stalker to walk away 

 when I was safely hidden. 



At 2.5 p.m. the female brought a young hare, 

 only partially plucked, and deposited it at the far 

 side of the nest, but she showed great cunning 

 and evinced a most unreasonable dislike to the lens, 

 which may possibly have been reflecting the light 

 at the time. On the stroke of 5, during a heavy 

 shower of sleet, she came back with a grouse, which 

 she placed on a ledge beside the nest and there 

 disembowelled it. 



She now attempted to decoy the Eaglet from the 

 neighbourhood of my hiding-place, and the method which 

 she adopted showed considerable reasoning power. First, 

 gorging herself on the ledge with the entrails, she made 

 the Eaglet furious with envy and disappointment, for 

 he was watching her every movement over the edge of 

 the nest. She then picked out a piece of liver, walked 

 up to the side of the nest and offered it to him, without 

 allowing him to take the dainty morsel. Stepping 

 backwards she decoyed him gradually away till he flapped 

 over the edge, and her object was attained. This was 

 the first time her suspicions had been aroused, and I 

 feared that she might make a practice of decoying the 

 Eaglet thus away from the camera, so decided to give 

 the birds a long rest and to ask the stalker to leave the 

 eyrie quiet till I returned. Before leaving I replaced 

 the Eaglet in the nest, and in doing so noticed that the 

 first dark feathers on his wings were now sprouting. 

 A month had now gone by since he left the shell. 



A fortnight passed before I saw the Eaglet again. He 

 was half covered with short thick feathers, while the 

 quills of others could be seen sprouting through the 

 down. He was at least twice as big as when I had seen 

 him last and had become as savage as a young tiger, 

 crouching down at my approach and opening his huge 



