TRAPPING EAGLES. 253 



so we are told by Lieutenant Richard F. Burton, in his 

 interesting work, " Falconry in the Valley of the Indus," " she 

 is invariably breeched a broad leather thong being passed 

 from the right to the left knee, where it is securely buttoned. 

 Were this precaution neglected, the natives assure us, there 

 is imminent danger of the hawk's being split up." 



Several plans are adopted in Scandinavia to destroy eagles ; 

 but the common steel-trap is perhaps the device most 

 resorted to. 



" In the spring in the month of March," says M. von 

 Wright, when speaking on this subject, " I placed upon the 

 ice, at about two miles from where I resided, a dead and 

 flayed calf. After it had lain there about two days, I 

 observed, by the marks of claws, that an eagle had preyed 

 upon it. On this I took a common hare- trap, and after 

 baiting it with a piece of meat, of about the size of my fist, I 

 deposited the trap on the snow, near to the carcase ; but in 

 such manner that only a very small part of the bait was visible. 

 Already on the following day an eagle, still living, sat with 

 both legs in the trap, exactly in the same way as a misdoer in 

 the stocks. Whilst yet at a distance, I observed that the bird 

 held down his head, as if he would hide himself; but when I 

 had approached immediately near to him, he reared himself 

 up, and giving me several piercing glances, made an attempt 

 to fly, in which effort, nevertheless, although the trap was of 

 no great weight, he was unsuccessful. This eagle weighed 

 eight pounds. The next day I captured another which was 

 fast by only one leg that weighed nine pounds and a half. 

 The maws of both were filled with several pounds of meat, 

 whence it is clear they had first fed on the carrion, and it 

 was not until they were about to depart, that they had seized 



