HIS NOTES ON THE LILFORD COLLECTION 255 



milk or tea from a tea-cup, sham dead at her 

 command, and perform other tricks ; in fact this 

 mouse displayed quite as much intelligence as 

 an average lady's lapdog, in his degree. 



1 Although we have had many losses amongst 

 my birds of prey, some of the oldest denizens of 

 our aviaries are of this class, in fact the most 

 ancient living creature in the collection is a 

 White-tailed or Sea Eagle, taken from a nest in 

 the south of Ireland in the early spring of 1854, 

 and therefore now very nearly forty years of age. 

 It is only of late that she has shown any signs 

 of old age in a certain lack of activity that 

 causes her to remain much upon the ground 

 instead of perching, but she is still in very fine 

 plumage, and it would, I think, be extremely 

 dangerous for a stranger to venture into her 

 compartment. 



' This species of eagle has been so persecuted 

 and killed down in its former breeding-haunts 

 in Scotland and Ireland, that I may say with 

 certainty that, at the outside, not more than 

 three pairs now nest in the United Kingdom. 

 A few stragglers visit our country irregularly on 

 passage, probably from Norway, and meet with 



