256 LORD LILFORD 



no mercy ; being, with few exceptions, shot or 

 trapped at once, and almost invariably recorded 

 in the newspapers as " magnificent specimens of 

 the Golden Eagle." 



' This Golden Eagle is far more common in 

 Scotland than the Sea Eagle, but fortunately 

 seldom travels to any very considerable distance 

 from its mountain haunts. Northamptonshire 

 is one of the few English counties that can lay 

 claim to an occurrence of the Golden Eagle 

 within its limits, whilst nearly every English 

 county is guilty of the blood of the Sea Eagle. 

 A very fine immature female of this latter 

 species was killed at Oakley, near Kettering, 

 in February 1891, and I am acquainted with 

 several other occurrences in Northamptonshire. 

 In my opinion there is no sense or reason in the 

 destruction of an eagle in our country, but so 

 long as British bird-collectors offer long prices 

 for specimens slaughtered within the limits of 

 the four seas, every loafer with a gun will very 

 naturally shoot every feathered thing that offers 

 him a chance. 



1 Mr. Cosgrave, my chief in charge of the 

 Lilford collections, assures me that the birds 



