32 THE HOME-LIFE OF 



in for a moment and vanished as quickly as she had come. 

 After this she no longer watched the eyrie at night, 

 but invariably looked in at dusk to inspect the sleeping 

 Eaglet and generally cleaned the nest at dawn, removing 

 carcases and the castings of the Eaglet. 



On the following day the Eaglet was again asleep when 

 I arrived, and was hardly awake when his mother came 

 at 8 a.m. On this occasion she brought no food, 

 but a couple of hours later appeared with a grouse. 

 She had evidently already devoured part of this bird 

 before bringing it to the eyrie and left the remainder for 

 her offspring. He devoured it greedily, and now began 

 to stand on the prey, holding it firmly with his talons 

 while tearing at its flesh. At 3.10 p.m. she brought him 

 another grouse and laid it at his feet. A young hare, 

 only half-plucked, was brought by the cock at 5.30, and 

 this was uneaten when I left the eyrie. During the 

 intervals between his meals the Eaglet played the same 

 little games which I described before, and his energy 

 was obviously increasing day by day. From now 

 onwards hares and rabbits were sometimes brought only 

 partially plucked, and some fur was swallowed regularly 

 by the Eaglet. 



My next visit was on June 29th, and I found a con- 

 siderable quantity of remains of grouse and rabbits at 

 the eyrie, which, however, the female removed between 

 6 and 7 o'clock. At 8.40 she brought a fresh 

 ptarmigan, but the Eaglet was not hungry and scarcely 

 noticed her approach. At 10.15 the cock brought a 

 grouse, and still the young one slept peacefully. A 

 friend of mine now appeared upon the scene and 

 was requested to throw these carcases over the rock, 

 as I wished to see what the result would be. About 

 three o'clock the Eaglet became hungry and began _ to 

 search for food, finally standing upright and screaming 

 for his supper. His mother heard him and returned to 

 ascertain the cause of his outcries, and seemed immensely 



