THE EAGLE. 107 



Was born of noble parents. Whereupon the king took 

 charge of him, and caused him to be baptized ; and, be- 

 cause he was found in a nest, he gave him the name of 

 Nestingum, and, in after time, having nobly educated 

 him, he advanced him to the dignity of an earl." 



In all the above instances of carrying away children, 

 it does not appear that the Eagles were able to fly 

 with them to any great distance ; but in Ireland a large 

 Eagle was seen to alight and take up a lamb, and carry 

 it away in a straight direction towards the high range of 

 the Morne mountains. The men who saw it, pursued 

 and kept it in view; when at length, having in vain at- 

 tempted to soar upwards to the summit of one of the 

 highest mountains, it dropt its burden at the edge of a 

 wood, quite unhurt. The distance it had flown was 

 judged to be upwards of two miles. 



They frequently attack smaller animals, but often 

 suffer severely in consequence, from the struggles of 

 the prisoners to escape, and several instances have oc- 

 curred of their being killed by weasels and stoats, which 

 they had incautiously pounced upon. One was related 

 by the gamekeeper of a Scotch nobleman, who, when 

 out on the moors, observed an Eagle rise from the 

 ground with something it had seized as its prey. For 

 a time it flew away steadily, when suddenly it became 

 evidently much agitated, and after irregularly fluttering 

 for a short time, spired upwards in a straight line to a 

 vast height, and then ceasing to flap its wings, fell head- 

 long to the ground. Struck with so unaccountable an 

 occurrence, the keeper made what haste he could to the 

 spot, and found the Eagle quite dead, arid a wounded 

 stoat struggling by its side. On examining the body of 

 the Eagle, he soon discovered the cause of its fall. The 

 stoat when in the air had contrived, according to its 

 usual custom in attacking rabbits, hares, rats, and other 

 small animals, to open an artery or vein, and kept firm 

 hold of the wound it had inflicted. 



Another such case occurred to a gentlemen in America; 



