316 IXTEODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



This species, though occasionally taken in England, haunts 

 more especiany the mountainous districts of Scotland, and of 

 the north and west of Ireland. In Mr. Selby's splendid illus- 

 trations of British Ornithology, are two figures of this bird. 

 These have suggested to a reviewer * of that work a descrip- 

 tion so vivid, that it enables the reader at once to realize, in 

 his own mind, many of its characteristic features. 



" The Grolden Eagle leads the van of our birds of prey, 

 and there she sits in her usual carriage when in a state of 

 rest. Her hunger and her thirst have been appeased — her 

 wings are folded up in dignified tranquillity — her talons, 

 grasping a leafless branch, ai'e almost hidden by the feathers 

 of her breast — her sleepless eye has lost something of its 

 ferocity — and the Eo^^al Bird is almost serene in her soHtary 

 state on the cliff. 



" But, lo, the character of the Grolden Eagle when she has 

 pounced and is exulting over her prey ! With her head 

 drawn back between the crescent of her uplifted wings, which 

 she will not fold until that prey be devoured — eye glaring 

 with cruel joy — neck plumage bristling — tail feathers fiin- 

 spread, and talons driven through the victim's entrails and 

 heart — there she is new alighted on the edge of a precipice, 

 and fancy hears her yell and its echo." " The week-old 

 Fawn had left the Doe's side but for a momentary race along 

 the edge of the coppice — a rustle and a shadow, and the 

 burden is borne off to the cliffs of Ben Nevis." 



The power of vision in this tribe is very extraordinary. 



This fact has been long known ; so long, indeed, that the 



classical reader will at once remember that it is mentioned by 



Homer, in his description of Menelaus : — 



"The field exploring, with an eye 



Keen as the Eagle's, keenest-eyed of all 

 That wing the air, whom, though he soar aloft, 

 The Lev' ret 'scapes not, hid in thickest shades, 

 But down he swoops, and at a stroke she dies." 



Iliad, CowrEu's Translation', xvii. 674. 



Fawns, Lambs, and Hares, with smaller quadrupeds and birds 

 of various kinds, constitute the food. It generally kills its 

 own game, but not invariabl}'. Mr. Thompson t records the 



* Blackwood's Magazine, Nov., 1826. 



t Papers on the Birds of Ireland, in the Magazine of Zoology and Botany 

 and Annals of Natural History. To this series, with permission of the author, 

 we make frequent reference. 



