THE GOLDEN-EAGLE 87 



hare unplucked, be it noted; while a minute later the father appeared 

 with a ptarmigan. The female now seemed to realise that she had 

 neglected an important duty, and at once proceeded to pluck the 

 hare, a task which was accomplished in an incredibly short space of 

 time. The youngster was thrown into a great state of excitement by 

 such a display of good things, and both parents in the nursery at the 

 same time, and ran from one to the other as if expecting food from 

 both. Receiving nothing from either, he made a vain attempt to 

 open the leveret for himself, and on this the mother rips open the 

 ptarmigan, eats the entrails, and feeds her nursling on the flesh. 

 From this time onward the eaglet passed the night alone, his 

 mother coming at dawn to remove the refuse from the nest. And 

 from now onwards hares and rabbits are brought to him only 

 partially plucked, and fur is regularly swallowed. This ingestion of 

 fur and feathers, it is to be remembered, is essential to the well-being 

 of raptorial birds, though for the first six weeks it would seem both 

 fur and feathers are scrupulously removed from all carcasses brought 

 to him. 



On one occasion a rabbit's leg was his only allowance for break- 

 fast, and this he evidently regarded as very meagre fare, for having 

 demolished it, he began to flap his wings, and cried incessantly, like a 

 hungry child. Not till noon did his mother again visit him, when she 

 brought a huge brown rat, which was speedily disposed of. Next 

 morning, after a breakfast of the hind-quarters of a rabbit, the eaglet, 

 evidently satisfied, performs again his comical antics with bits of 

 heather and grass. At noon the cock brought him a young grouse, 

 which, when left to himself, he devoured completely, bones and all. 

 With the legs he evidently had some difficulty, since he first looked 

 at them critically, then lifted them up in his foot and examined them, 

 and finally swallowed them. These were probably the first bones he 

 had ever swallowed. 



The youngster, now just over seven weeks old, has now learned 

 to walk with ease, and has well -grown wings. As his parents 



