323 JButtermere E>fetrict 



lately left the dwellings of men. He ascends from Wast- 

 dale Head, by the steep path clearly visible from below, up 

 the side of Great Gable. At the top of the pass, the view 

 behind is extremely fine, — the dale lying i,ooo feet below, 

 while the precipices of Scafell rise 2,000 feet over head. 

 The rill from Sprinkling Tarn is close by, and it leads to 

 this Sty Head Tarn, where the boars used to come to drink. 

 Long after the boars were gone, the eagles came hither : and 

 this was one of their last haunts. The ^aijles which gave 

 their name to the crag in Borrowdale, being disturbed, 

 settled themselves on a rock at Seathwaite, and at length 

 crossed the ridge into Eskdale. The disturbance was of 

 course from the shepherds, who lost so many lambs as to be 

 driven desperate against the birds. There was no footing 

 on the crag by which the nest could be reached ; so a man 

 was lowered by a rope sixty yards down a precipice. He 

 carried his mountain-staif with him ; its spiked end being 

 the best weapon against the birds. He did not expect to 

 kill the old ones ; but year after year the eggs or the young 

 were taken. If he brought the young away alive he had 

 the birds for his pains, if the eggs, every shepherd gave him 

 five shillings for every egg. It is said that not more than two 

 eggs were found at one time. The nest was made of twigs 

 and lined with a sort of grass from the clefts of the rock. 

 When the fowler failed, and the eaglets were reared, they 

 were led away as soon as strong enough by the parent birds, 

 — no doubt to settle in some other spot ; and the parents 

 returned without them. One of this pair was shot at by the 

 master of a sheep-dog which had been actually carried some 

 distance into the air by it, escaping only by the flesh giving 

 way. The shot took effect, but the eagle vanished. About 

 a week after, it was found lying on the grass on the uplands 

 at Seatoller, nearly starved. Its bill had been split by the 



