THE GOLDEN EAGLE— RING-TAIL. 75 



and once in the death of his would-be mate. On one occasion 

 a laborer, who had been at work for Passmore, determined to ob- 

 tain some of the feathers of this Eagle which were lying on the 

 floor of his large cage, thinking they could be put to some orna- 

 mental use at home. He therefore boldly entered, and without 

 more ado commenced to gather the most perfect of these. While 

 thus engaged, and when stooping, the fierce bird pounced upon 

 him, and drove his talons through his garments, inflicting a deep 

 scratch on his back. The man beat a hasty retreat to the door of 

 the cage, and Mr. Passmore happening to arrive on the scene, the 

 bird was beaten off, taking with him, however, as a war troph)-, a 

 large portion of the man's vest and shirt. The memory of this 

 Eagle was astonishing. He remembered every insult offered to 

 him for years, and always coupled it with the real offender. Mr. 

 Passmore informs me that on one occasion his son went out to 

 feed the Eagle, and when offering the bird the meat, it took it 

 so quickly from him that his fingers barely escaped injury. 

 Enracjed at this, he seized a stick and struck the bird on the head. 

 This the bird at once resented and made desperate efforts to 

 reach him through the bars of his cage, and for weeks after refused 

 to take food from this man's hands. Mr. Passmore's son shorth' 

 after this left for Australia, where he remained three years. On 

 his return to Montreal he again paid a visit to his old friend the 

 Eao-le, the existence of which he had almost forgotten. But the 

 bird had not foreotten him, for Mr. Passmore tells me he at once 

 flew into a terrible paroxysm of rage at the first sight of the 

 offender, refused his meat, and made desperate attempts to break 

 throuofh the bars of his cas^e. On several occasions in Toronto 

 this same Eagle managed to get loose, and would proceed on a 

 reconnoitrino- tour throuo-h the neighboring grounds. He, however, 

 invariably returned before evening to his own quarters. Before 

 rainy weather the Golden Eagle is said to make a singular yelp- 

 ing or barking noise, which is kept up at short intervals until the 

 rain sets in. In this way the bird figured foretold in a most 

 marked manner the approach of storms — so truthfully in fact that 

 Mr. Passmore and his bird were always consulted by the neighbors 

 before an excursion into the country was undertaken. 



