HALLETUS ALBICILLA. 73 



the sea, to be near their chief means of life, which justifies 

 Burns, in his " Elegy on Captain Matthew Henderson," saying — 



" Ye hills ! near neibors o' the starns, 

 That proudly cock your cresting cairns ! 

 Ye cliffs, the haunts of sailing yearns, 



Where echo slumbers ! 

 Come, join ye Nature's sturdiest bairns, 



My wailing numbers." 



The eggs are about the same size as the golden eagle's, but not 

 so rich in colour, being generally pale bluish white, with small 

 red spots at the larger end — two in number, sometimes only one. 

 They lay about the middle of April, a fortnight later than the 

 golden eagle. The young are hatched about the middle of May, 

 and leave the nest in August. The old birds continue to feed 

 them for some time after quitting the nest, but ultimately drive 

 them away to seek food for themselves, and it is these stragglers 

 that are generally found away from their nesting-place, where 



" Triumphant on the bosom of the storm 

 Glances the wheeling eagle's glorious form." 



The scream of the sea eagle is loud and shrill, and can be 

 heard a mile distant ; but its usual cry is a sharp yelp, very like 

 the " klee, klee, klee " of the kestrel, or sparrow-hawk, and 

 sounds like " klick, klick, klick." There is not such difference 

 in size betwixt the male and female as between the golden 

 eagles, being more of carrion feeders. As a proof of this, their 

 trachea is nearly double the size of the golden eagle's, and very 

 wide. When living prey is wanting, dead sheep or dogs, cats 

 or cod, or other offal, are greedily devoured. Taking advantage 

 of his vulturine nature, it is often captured by a simple device — 

 rough walls are built, and an opening left sufficient to let the 

 bird through, where a running noose is placed, a piece of carrion 

 is thrown into the centre, which the eagle pounces down upon, 

 and after being gorged it walks to the opening, instead of flying 

 up, gets noosed and strangled in such a way that a little tom-tit 

 or gold-crested wren would disdain to be hanged in. It never 

 flies straight up if an easier exit is at hand, as it cannot readily 

 rise from the ground on the wing unless in a slanting direction. 

 But in thus meanly creeping from a feast he is not unlike 

 many a human gourmand who flies with all the pomp of spread- 

 eagleism to a prepared guzzle, and leaves it as besotted and 

 ignominiously — though less fatally. 



After foretelling the three ills of Scotland, viz. : — the death 

 of Alexander I. at Kinghorn, and the Battles of Flodden and 



