A GOLDEN EAGLE. 33 



surprised to find the larder empty (Plate 17). She sat 

 still for a moment and then vanished, having evidently 

 thought out a plan of campaign. Almost immediately 

 she once more lit upon the ledge, and the Eaglet tore 

 ravenously at the grouse which she had brought. Her 

 short absence seemed to indicate that she had the prey 

 ready prepared in some storehouse, which indeed we found 

 later in a steep rock at no great distance from the eyrie. 



In thick mist and rain the Eaglet woke on the following 

 morning and to his extreme annoyance found that the 

 larder was again empty. During his slumbers I had 

 approached unnoticed, and now, seeing that he was 

 hungry, threw him a rabbit's leg which I had brought for 

 the purpose. He seized it ravenously and was on the 

 point of tearing a strip of flesh from the bone when 

 his mother settled on the nest and seizing it in her beak, 

 bore the coveted morsel away. Doubtless she thought 

 that the leg had been overlooked by her when house- 

 cleaning at daybreak. 



Shortly afterwards the cock appeared with a grouse, 

 and the two Eagles, father and child, stood side by side 

 upon the ledge (Plate 18), and the picture which I then 

 obtained shows clearly the size of the Eaglet at this 

 stage, when he was about seven weeks old. The rain 

 was now descending in torrents and the mist closed 

 in around the eyrie. The Eaglet, after a liberal break- 

 fast of grouse, retired to the shelter of the ledge, 

 and I, following his example, returned home for 

 rest and sleep, my supply of plates being exhausted. 



The last month of the Eaglet's long sojourn at the 

 eyrie opened with a day of brilliant sunshine, to which, 

 in his gloomy abode, he was unaccustomed. There was 

 hardly a breath of wind, and the rays of heat, reflected 

 from the rocks, penetrated even into my hiding-place, 

 bringing to life many biting insects which henceforward 

 caused me considerable discomfort. They had doubtless 

 found their way hither from the eyrie, which was now 



