6 BRITISH BIRDS. 



in the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the forests of Fontain- 

 bleau. In some parts, successive generations have ob- 

 served pairs nestling on the same cliffs. 



The attention of the parent bird to her eaglets has 

 often been noticed. Sir Humphrey Davy had an op- 

 portunity of witnessing the instructions given, and has 

 thus stated the fact : — 



" I once saw a very interesting sight above one of 

 the crags of Ben Nevis, as I was going, on the 20th of 

 August, in the pursuit of black game. Two parent 

 eagles were teaching their offspring, two young birds, 

 the manoeuvres of flight. They began by rising from 

 the top of a mountain, in the eye of the sun. It was 

 about mid-day, and bright for this climate. They at 

 first made small circles, and the young birds imitated 

 them. They paused on their wings, waiting till they 

 had made their first flight, and then took a second and 

 larger gyration, always rising towards the sun, and en- 

 larging their circle of flight, so as to make a gradually 

 extending spiral. The young ones still slowly followed, 

 apparently flying better as they mounted ; and they 

 continued this sublime kind of exercise, always rising, 

 till they became mere points in the air, and the young 

 ones were lost, and afterwards their parents, to our 

 aching sight." 



