8 SrORT IN KORTH AMERICA. 



the imprudent sportsman. I dared not fire, for fear 

 of lim'ting my friend, but 1 stood ready to give my 

 assistance if aid were possible. AYliat I dreaded 

 was, that Whitehead might lose his balance and fall 

 into the lake, and my fears were partly realised, for, 

 just as I was preparing to pull the trigger, the bird of 

 Jove, with an evident intention to break the skull of 

 its foe, struck at his head, and carried oif — not a 

 piece of flesh, but — my friend's wig. 



The blow^ so staggered him that he must inevit- 

 ably have fallen down into the lake, if he had 

 not had a good strong branch to support him. 

 Just at that moment, I levelled my gun, and broke 

 the right wing of the lammergeyer so eliectuall}', 

 that after soaring in a circle, he fell right into the 

 middle of the lake. Whitehead soon recovered 

 himself, and came down the tree as quickl}^ as pos- 

 sible, bringing with him the eaglet, which he had 

 smothered during his fight with the enraged parent. 

 We had great difficulty in getting down to the 

 level of the lake, in whose midst the eagle had died, 

 fighting furiously, as if it were the devil in hoi}' 

 water. I plunged into the lake, and after twenty 

 strokes, caught hold of the wing of the eagle and 

 towed it ashore. I write this xevy story with a 

 quill from the left wing of that bird. As for poor 

 Whitehead, though the wig saved him for the 

 nonce, he died afterwards of a fit of apoplexy. That 

 St. Hubert may take him into his special keeping is 



