STATELY FACE AND MAGNANIMOUS MINDE 113 



The sea-eagle does not always devour the sea porcupine, 

 which at the very best is nothing more than a picking. 

 Amongst such a complex labyrinth of keen bones a hasty 

 meal is not to be found, and the sea-eagle is not a leisurely 

 eater. He likes to gulp ; and so when he has indiscreetly 

 blundered on a porcupine he frequently unlocks his talons 

 and shakes himself free, while the fish, inflated to the last 

 gulp, floats away high and light, bearing on its tense 

 silvery-white side the crimson stigmata of the sea-eagle. 



When misguided fish have blundered into the trap in 

 the comer of the bay, the sea-eagle demands a share of 

 the easily-gotten spoil. Perched on the tallest stake, he 

 faithfully indicates the presence of food that he cannot 

 obtain unless by goodwill ; yet who would deny the bird 

 of his right ? Having fulfilled his duty as sentinel, he soars 

 to an adjacent tree, uttering that sneering twang which is 

 his one paltry attribute, and when a fish is thrown into the 

 shallow water he swoops down and is away with it to his 

 eyrie. If the sand is bare, however, he cannot, owing to his 

 length of wing, pick up the fish in his flight. Unbecoming 

 as it may be to tantalise by trickery so regal a bird, a 

 series of trials was undertaken to ascertain the height from 

 the surface whence a fish could be gripped. Twelve 

 successive swoops for a mullet flopping on the sand failed, 

 though it was touched at least six times with the tips of 

 the eagle's outstretched talons. Consenting to failure, the 

 bird was compelled to alight undignifiedly a few yards 

 away, to awkwardly jump to the fish and to eat it on the 

 spot, for however imperious the sea-eagle is in the air, and 

 dexterous in the seizure of a fish from the water, he cannot 

 rise from an unimpressionable plane with his talons full. 

 On another occasion a fish was raised 4 inches on a 

 slender stake. The sea-eagle dislodged it several times, 

 but could not grasp it. Raised a further 4 inches the fish 

 was seized without fumbling. Eight inches or so, therefore, 

 seems to be about the minimum height from which a bird 

 with 6 feet of red wing and a nice determination not to 



bruise or soil the tips, may grip with certainty. 

 H 



