THE WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. 17 



ing the bird on her return to the eyrie, and, at length, he 

 beheld her advancing towards the rock behind which he 

 was concealed. On a nearer approach, he observed, to 

 his indescribable horror, an infant in her grasp, and 

 heard with anguish its bitter cries. In a moment he 

 resolved to fire at the eagle the instant she alighted, 

 and rather to kill the child than to leave it for a prey to 

 the ravenous bird. That instant came : with a silent 

 prayer and a steady aim he poised his rifle, and, most 

 providentially, the ball pierced the head or heart of the 

 eagle, and immediately this hunter, 



" Whose joy was in the wilderness, to breathe 

 The difficult air of the iced mountain's top," 



found a far higher delight fill his bosom in snatching 

 the child from the eagle's nest, and bearing it securely 

 away. It was wounded by the talons of the bird, but 

 not mortally; and in less than twenty-four hours after it 

 was first missed, he had the high satisfaction of restoring 

 it to its mother's arms. 



Notwithstanding the extreme boldness of the white- 

 tailed eagle, it does not dare to contend with a fox or a 

 dog in its natural wild state. Singularly enough, an 

 eagle and a fox were, on one occasion, observed to be 

 regaling themselves on the carcase of a goat that had 

 fallen down a precipice in the Highlands of Scotland. 



c 



