BIRDS. 317 



capture of three of these birds at Glenarm Park, County 

 Antrim, the bait employed in each instance being the body of 

 a Duck or a Lamb. So great is the quantity of food they 

 collect, when rearing their young brood, that a poor man in 

 the county of Kerry * got a comfortable subsistence for his 

 family, during a time of famine, by robbing an Eagle's nest. 

 A similar occurrence took place at Glenarifi", county of Antrim, 

 in the early part of the present century. " One of a pair of 

 Eaglets, taken from a nest there, was so placed that during 

 the summer its parents supplied it with Rabbits and Hares in 

 such abundance, that its owner obtained a sufficiency of animal 

 food besides for himself and family. "t 



When intent on foUowinsr his o:ame, the Easfle evinces great 

 boldness. On one occasion an Eagle appeared above a pack 

 of hounds, as they came to a fault on the ascent of Devis, the 

 highest of the Belfast mountains, after a good chase. " As 

 thej' came on the scent again, and were at full cry, the Eagle 

 for a short time kept above them, but at length advanced, 

 and carried off the Hare when at the distance of three to four 

 hundred paces before the hounds." X With similar audacity 

 he dashes down among a " pack " § of Grouse, and so " puzzles 

 and confuses the birds, that he seizes and carries off two or 

 three before they know what has happened, and in the very 

 face of the astonished sportsman and his dogs." |1 



It may be observed, that the prey is invariably seized with 

 the talons, the beak being used for the piu-pose of tearing it 

 up. This is contrary to popular belief; and the error deserves 

 to be pointed out, as we find it pervading the descriptions of 

 some of our most gifted poets ; as for example, in the mag- 

 nificent simile employed by Byron : — 



" Even .as the Eagle overlooks his prey, 

 And for a moment, poised in middle air, 

 Suspends the motion of his mighty wings, 

 Then swoops, with his unerring beak." 



Marino Fauero. 



* Smith's History of Kerry. 



t Thompson. 



J Idem. 



§ The little assemblages of birds, consisting of the parents and full- 

 fledged young, are indicated by sportsmen by names which dift'er accord- 

 ing to the particular birds spoken of, as a covei/ of Partridge, a pack of 

 Grouse. 



II St. John's Wild Sports and Natural Historj' of the Highlands, p 84. 



