CHAPTER XII. 



IRISH GOLDEN EAGLES. 



AT the present day the Golden Eagle, happily, 

 does more than hold its own in the highlands of 

 Scotland. Would that the Isle of Erin could tell 

 the same tale ! Formerly a fairly familiar object 

 there in suitable districts, the species is now reduced 

 to a miserable remnant of, shall we say, ten or a 

 dozen pairs, which inhabit the loneliest and most 

 romantic mountain-ranges of Donegal, Mayo, and 

 just possibly of Galway and Kerry. The day, 

 however, is not far distant when the ornithologist 

 exploring those regions will look in vain for this 

 majestic creature, which must impart an additional 

 interest and animation to any spot, however fair. 

 As a race, the Irish seem in no way proud of 

 their Eagles, and scarce an opportunity or excuse 

 for destroying one is lost. 



It is in the co. Mayo that I am familiar with 

 the Golden Eagle, where I have spent days 

 watching its habits. There has been for some few 

 years past a solitary old fellow deprived of his 

 mate through poison it is to be feared who, 

 constant to his ancestral domain, frequents a wind- 

 swept mountain, one side of which culminates in 



