BURNING THE NESTS OF THE SEA-EAGLE. 345 



is such a predaceous intruder on the farm-yard, that in the 

 Hebrides a fierce war is waged against him. 



The farmers of the isles of St. Kilda proceed to their 

 extermination, some carrying coils of rope, others bundles 

 of dry heath and burning peat, and ascend to the brow of 

 the mountains, where the fissured and shelved precipice 

 hangs over the foamy margin of the Atlantic. Strings of 

 gannets, cormorants, and guillemots are seen winding 

 round the promontories, while here and there over the curl- 

 ing waves is seen hovering a solitary gull. They have 

 reached the brink of the cliffs, over which the more timid 

 scarce dare venture to cast a glance, for almost directly 

 under their feet is the unfathomed sea, heaving its heavy 

 billows some hundred feet below the place to which they 

 cling. The eagles are abroad, sailing at a cautious distance 

 in circles, uttering wild and harsh screams, and as they 

 sweep past displaying their powerful talons. One of them 

 fastens the rope to his body, passing it under his arms, and 

 securing it under upon his breast by a firm knot. The rest 

 dig holes with their heels in the turf, and sitting down in a 

 row, take firm hold of the cord. The adventurer looks over 

 the edge of the clifi*, marks the projecting shelf which over- 

 hangs the eagle's nest, and is gradually lowered towards 

 it, bearing in one hand the bundle of heath wdth the cord 

 attached to it, and the peat burning in the middle, and with 

 the other pushing himself from the angular projection of the 

 rock. At length he arrives on the shelf, and calls to those 

 above to slacken the rope, but keep fast hold of it. Then 

 creeping forwards and clinging to unstable tufts of vegeta- 

 tion, on the sides of the rock, he looks downwards and ascer- 

 tains the precise position of the nest, in which are two 

 eagles covered with down, skeletons of fishes, birds, and 

 lambs heaped around them. At sight of the human face — 

 which to their imagination is anything but divine — the 

 young eagles shrink back in terror, cowering beneath the 



