12 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



appeared in the distance and saw me at once ; she 

 uttered a scream of alarm, dropped the prey which 

 she held in her grasp, and immediately the eaglets 

 disappeared under the shelter of the rock. The 

 male at once dashed away, but in a short time, 

 informed by that instinct which no one can explain, 

 that we had no firearms, they approached once 

 more, wheeling over our heads, and uttering cries 

 Avhich sounded like menaces. 



We made up our minds to return next day with 

 our guns, but the weather was so unfavourable that 

 Ave were unable to undertake the expedition until 

 after a week. I took care to suggest to my com- 

 panions the desirability of having a rope-ladder, and 

 all the apparatus necessary for scaling the rock, and 

 whilst some of the peasants climbed the precipice, 

 the rest stood at the foot. Ten hours elapsed with- 

 out anything being visible, and on examining the 

 nest it was found vacant. The eagles, with their 

 wonted sagacity, had not suffered the grass to grow 

 under their feet, but had placed their offspring in a 

 safer place, where they were not liable to human 

 investigations. 



During my stay at New York, I often amused 

 myself with travelling by some of the numerous 

 steamers which navigate the bay as far as Staten 

 Island, and there, accompanied by my dog, I ex- 

 plored the path which leads to the basaltic rocks 

 which border the ocean. I had found out, among 



