A GOLDEN EAGLE. 41 



cleared and a bright sun was breaking through the clouds, 

 the unaccustomed warmth rousing the Eaglet from his 

 dreams. At a quarter to eight he began to search for 

 food, and discovering a hare's leg with a fair quantity 

 of flesh on it, proceeded to devour the titbit. He was 

 tearing the meat from the bone when the cock suddenly 

 and quite unexpectedly appeared upon the scene, 

 bringing the hindquarters of another hare (Plate 28). 

 This was the only occasion on which I saw the Eaglet 

 surprised by the arrival of his parents, for he generally 

 saw or heard them long before they appeared. I 

 had barely time to secure the picture when the great 

 bird of prey disappeared as silently as he had come. 

 During the long interval which elapsed before the 

 female's next visit, the youngster gorged himself, slept 

 and indulged in flying exercises alternately, on one 

 occasion succeeding in balancing himself insecurely upon 

 a stone (Plate 29), evidently thinking that he was in 

 a very dangerous position indeed. This was the first 

 occasion on which I saw him use his wings to reach a 

 point of vantage, and it became evident that the stones 

 which I had placed on the far side of the nest would soon 

 become useless as a means of restricting his daily rambles. 

 As the days went on the Eaglet's strength gradually 

 increased and the last remnants of down vanished from 

 among his pinions. There was still down on his body, 

 among the feathers of the back and round the crop, 

 also at the root of the tail and under the wings. The 

 long black pinion feathers were growing rapidly, and 

 the weight of his body alone prevented him from 

 taking flight. He was now nine weeks old, and expect- 

 ing daily to find him gone I watched his progress 

 closely, and during this period noted that on an 

 average his parents paid him three visits each day with 

 prey in their talons, but that they had now ceased to 

 remove the remnants of his meals from the eyrie, leaving 

 all refuse to accumulate. 



