A GOLDEN EAGLE. 45 



secrets of which the key lies perchance in a few shrivelled 

 bones on some rocky ledge. Could we follow him on 

 his wanderings we should see his first lessons in hunting, 

 how his 'prentice efforts failed and how at length his 

 clumsy wings bore him down the corrie in search of prey. 

 We should see how for long weeks his parents fed him 

 and how they still placed beside him a juicy grouse or 

 a succulent hare when August was well advanced. We 

 may see him perchance as we wander through the forest 

 sitting upon a rock, a prince in his own right, the heir of 

 the King of Birds. We may stalk him on a stormy day 

 sheltering below some ledge resembling the one which 

 shielded him from the spring snowstorms in his infancy. 

 If we are fortunate we may even watch his attempts to 

 catch a hare, and see how the red grouse scorn his 

 clumsy efforts to take them on the wing. We may even 

 witness the last and strangest scene in this drama of 

 an Eagle's life, when the devoted parents, who for five 

 long months have tended their offspring with loving care, 

 turn on him as on a foe and drive him forth into the 

 outer world. 



Note. — Since the first edition was published the 

 author has been informed that the young Eagle was 

 seen again in the eyrie on several occasions, and it is 

 probable that he returned at night and during severe 

 storms to the shelter of the ledge. Naturalists will be 

 glad to know that he was seen flying in company with 

 his parents during the autumn. 



