THE WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. 15 



issue. A native of the isle of Skye, named Neil, was 

 left, when an infant, by his mother in the field, " not 

 far," says Martin, " from the houses on the north side 

 of Loch Portrie," when an eagle came and carried him 

 away in its talons, as far as the south side of the loch, 

 and there laid him on the ground. Some people tend- 

 ing sheep, hearing the infant cry, immediately ran to 

 his rescue, found him providentially untouched by the 

 eagle, and bore him home to his mother. " He is still 

 living," says Martin, in 1716, "in that parish, and by 

 reason of this accident is distinguished among his neigh- 

 bours by the surname of Eagle." 



The following is also a remarkable tale. A peasant, 

 with his wife and children, had taken up his summer 

 quarters in a small cabin or shed, near Brian^on, and 

 was feeding his flocks among the mountain herbage 

 which overhangs the Durance. The eldest child was 

 an idiot, about eight years of age ; the second, five years 

 old, suffered from another calamity, that of dumbness ; 

 and the youngest was an infant. One morning the latter 

 was left in the charge of his brothers, and all had ram- 

 bled to some distance from the cabin before they were 

 missed. At length, the mother, who went forth to seek 

 the wanderers, discovered the two elder, but the infant 

 was gone. 



