CHAPTER TEN BIRDS OF PREY 



completely gorged himselfwith a rotten sheep in the wood 

 that it could not rise. 



Another instance occurred in the same country. A shep- 

 herd's boy found an eagle gorging itself on some drowned 

 sheep in a watercourse, and being, like all herd-boys, as 

 skilful as David in the use of sling and stone, he had brok- 

 en the eagle'spinion with a pebble, and had actually stoned 

 the poor bird to death. In this case the eagle was taken at 

 peculiar disadvantage, beingsurprised inadeep rocky burn, 

 out of which he would have had difficulty in rising quickly, 

 even if he had not dined so abundantly. When wounded 

 by shot, or even after escaping (but maimed) from a trap, 

 theeaMe isoftenunable to rise.Acurious anecdote was told 



o 



me by a friend. An eagle had been caught in a vermin-trap, 

 and, by his struggles, had drawn the peg by which the trap 

 was fastened to the ground, and had flown away with it. 

 Nothing was seen for some weeks of eagle or trap, till one 

 day my friend seeing some strange object hanging from 

 the branch of atree, went to examine what it was, and found 

 the poor bird hanging by his leg, which was firmly held by 

 the trap. The chain and peg had got fixed amongst the 

 branches, and the poor eagle had died miserably from starv- 

 ation in this position, suspended by the foot. Though cer- 

 tainly the eagles in some localities commit great havoc 

 amongst the lambs, and also destroy the grouse when no 

 larger game offers itself, it would be a great pity that this 

 noble bird should become extinct in our H ighlanddistricts, 

 who notwithstanding his carnivorous propensities, should 

 be rather preserved than exterminated. How picturesque 

 he looks, and how perfectly he represents the genius loci, 

 133 



