52 THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 



and hind toes being the longest. For while the hind and 



second toes are only about If inches long, their formidable talons 



are nearly 3 inches long, which enables him or her to pierce the 



heart and squeeze to death almost instantaneously such birds as 



plovers and grouse, as if Nature meant no bungling cruelty in 



her work, designing him to be while cruel yet merciful. As 



Othello said when stabbing Desdemona — 



" I that am cruel am yet merciful ; 

 I would not have thee linger in thy pain." 



But, what does all our study or moralising come to 1 — but to 

 show how wise and perfect Nature is in all her works. From the 

 claw of the golden eagle to the bill of the golden-crested wren — 

 from a blade of grass up to the meridian sun — all is a science, a 

 study, and perfection. The stars are numbered — worlds wheel 

 in space, each in their own circle — have their own order — their 

 own family, so to speak — their own sub-family — even their own 

 genus, perhaps their own creation, for aught we know. Yet all 

 wheeling in harmonious order — never jarring, unless for the 

 wisest purpose — all working in a science of eternal order. This 

 known — the science of all life, as well as of birds, is known — 

 yet the Creation and the Creator alike unsearchable and 

 unknown ! Touching this, as already said, " all we know 

 is, nothing can be known " beyond the one grand order — Life, 

 and the other equally powerful order of Death/ The one 

 caused by the other — even though it be by the talon of a 

 golden eagle piercing the heart of a grouse, or a blow from the 

 club of Cain. The golden eagle is not more distinguished for 

 its size and strength than for its destructive habits, although 

 it does not have the same faculty of pursuing its prey upon 

 wing as the falcons and hawks ; for, though its flight is very 

 powerful, it is not capable of the rapid evolutions which mark 

 the aerial attacks of these birds; consequently their prey is 

 mostly pounced upon on the ground. They attack the larger 

 birds and some animals, not even despising the little mole ; but, 

 unless pressed by extreme hunger, refuse to feed upon carrion 

 or any prey already dead. They prefer to hunt and kill for 

 themselves. Their form is compact and strong ; their gait and 

 aspect active and alert, entirely devoid of the sluggish look 

 which characterises the genera more closely allied to the 

 vultures. This powerful and magnificent bird does not frequent 

 the lowland part of Scotland, to which I intend chiefly to con- 

 fine my work j and, so far as I know, has only been seen twice 

 in the district of St Andrews during the last fifty years. About 



