106 THE EAGLE. 



into a tree. Soon after, another bird of the same kind 

 discovered himself, and flying above their heads, made a 

 sudden pounce downwards, but checked himself before 

 he actually touched them. Captain Flinders supposed 

 that they took him and his party for kangaroos, which, 

 when sitting up on their hind-legs, according to their 

 usual habit, are about the height and form of a man. 

 On these animals the Eagles were observed to feed, 

 having been seen watching quietly in the trees till a 

 kangaroo made its appearance, when down they flew, 

 and tore it in pieces in an instant. Probably this was 

 the truth ; for the country was very desolate, and as far 

 as they could judge, uninhabited, so that the Eagles 

 might never have seen men before. 



The well-known crest of the Eagle and Child, borne 

 by the Stanley family, is supposed to have been founded 

 upon a tradition of one of their ancestors, when a child, 

 having been carried off by an Eagle ; and a story is told 

 in a very old book on English history, which, whether 

 true or not in all its particulars, proves at least the pre- 

 vailing belief, that Eagles occasionally flew away with 

 children : indeed, there was an ancient Act of Parlia- 

 ment " anent the slaying of the Erne," that is, concern- 

 ing t<he slaying of the Erne, the name of a particular 

 species of Eagle, in which, on account of its being "a 

 terror to farmers, from fowls to children," a reward was 

 granted to the person who should destroy a nest or a 

 bird. The story alluded to from the above-mentioned 

 old book* is as follows: "Alfred, king of the West 

 Saxons, went out one day a hunting, and passing by a 

 certain wood heard, as he supposed, the cry of an infant 

 from the top of a tree, and forthwith diligently inquiring 

 of the huntsmen what that doleful sound could be, com- 

 manded one of them to climb the tree, when in the top 

 of it was found an Eagle's nest, and lo ! therein, a pretty 

 sweet-faced infant, wrapped up in a purple mantle, and 

 upon each arm a bracelet of gold, a clear sign that he 



* Monast. Ang., vol. i. 



