AQUILA CHRYSAETUS. 59 



have said "This earth shall fly from its .firm base as soon as I." 

 Be that as it may, the lad planted the butt end of his gun down 

 on the bird, trying to take it alive, but in the struggle the eagle 

 grasped the trigger of the other barrel and the shot went through 

 his brain, killing him on the spot. He was found quite dead a 

 few hours after, by his elder brother, who had come out to seek 

 for him. The eagle was got close beside the body. It was 

 "killed, taken to Inverness and stuffed. The man who told me 

 was living at Ullapool at the time, and knew both the lad and 

 his father, and was all but an eye-witness to the fact. 



I read in the Scotsman that a large golden eagle had been 

 shot, with its leg firmly fixed in a large stamp. It was seen for 

 several days flying about in the Highlands with the stamp hang- 

 ing from its leg. It was a female, measuring 8 feet across. 



In the Braemar news of a district newspaper there lately 

 appeared the following : — 



"Extraordinary Exploit op an Eagle. — Least week Mr Abercrombie, 

 gamekeeper, Invercauld Eorest, having set three strong traps chained 

 together (weighing in all 24 lbs.) for the purpose of catching foxes, was 

 surprised next day to find that all his snaring tackle had disappeared. If a 

 fox had been trapped, some traces must have remained. This led him to 

 examine minutely the ground, but nothing could be seen. Puzzled, but bent 

 on making a thorough search over the hill, he got three young men and 

 returned to search, when, by chance, the missing property was found at 

 the top of a beetling crag, nearly a mile up the hill, firmly imbedded in the 

 soil, as if they had dropped from a great height. In this position they still 

 remain, it being found impracticable to remove them owing to the frost. 

 One of the traps contained the claw and part of an eagle's foot, two inches 

 long. An eagle, which was seen in the neighbourhood some days previous, 

 had been caught in the fox-trap, procuring its liberty by the loss of its 

 talons." 



When the weight of the traps is considered, besides their 

 being fixed in the ground, it is marvellous how the bird was 

 able to wrench them away and fly with them to so great a 

 height, which shows the great power of the golden eagle, and 

 makes it no marvel that it should attack even the stag. 



In the Evening Telegraph of April 15th, 1884, I saw that a 

 golden eagle was shot near Kirriemuir, by Mr Robbie, farmer, 

 Gella Wateresk, when watching some ewes and lambs. He 

 saw it hovering about where the lambs w-ere. He ran for his 

 gun. On returning he found it still hovering. Getting a 

 favourable opportunity he brought it down with the first shot. 

 It measured 7 feet across the w 7 ings, and 33 inches from tip of 

 beak to end of tail. It was stuffed by Mr M'Kenzie, bird- 

 stufTer, Dundee. Lambs had been missed off several farms in 

 the glen a week or two before. 



