6" A HISTORY OF 



summer of famine, out of an eagle's nest, by robbing the eaglets of 

 food, which was plentifully supplied by the old ones. He protracted 

 their assiduity beyond the usual time, by clipping the wings, and re- 

 tarding the flight of the young ; and very probably also, as I have 

 known myself, by so tying them as to increase their cries, which is al- 

 ways found to increase the parent's despatch to procure them provi 

 sion. It was lucky, however, that the old eagles did not surprise the* 

 countryman as he was thus employed, as their resentment might have 

 been dangerous. 



It happened some time ago, in the same country, that a peasant re* 

 solved to rob the nest of an eagle that had built in a smail island in 

 the beautiful lake of Killarney. He accordingly stripped, and swam 

 in upon the island while the old ones were away ; and, robbing the 

 nest of its young, he was preparing to swim back, with the eaglets tied 

 in a string ; but while he was yet up to his chin in the water, the old 

 eagles returned, and missing their young, quickly fell upon the plun- 

 derer, and in spite of all his resistance, despatched him with their 

 beaks and talons. 



In order to extirpate these pernicious birds, there is a law in the 

 Orkney Islands, which entitles any person that kills an eagle to a hen 

 out of every house in the parish in which the plunderer is killed. 



The nest of the eagle is usually built in the most inaccessible cliff 

 of the rock, and often shielded from the weather by some jutting crag 

 that hangs over it. Sometimes, however, it is wholly exposed to the 

 winds, as well sideways as above ; for the nest is flat, though built 

 with great labour. It is said that the same nest serves the eagle du 

 ring life ; and indeed the pains bestowed in forming it seems to argue 

 as much. One of these was found in the Peak of Derbyshire, which 

 Willoughby thus describes : " It was made of great sticks, resting one 

 end on the edge of a rock, the other on two birch trees. Upon these 

 was a layer of rushes, and over them a layer of heath, and upon the 

 heath rushes again ; upon which lay one young one, and an addle egg ; 

 and by them a lamb, a hare, and three heath-poults. The nest was about 

 two yards square, and had no hollow in it. The young eagle was of the 

 shape of a goshawk, of almost the weight of a goose, rough footed, or 

 feathered down to the foot, having a white ring about the tail." Such 

 is the place where the female eagle deposits her eggs, which seldom ex- 

 ceed two at a time in the larger species, and not above three in the 

 smallest. It is said that she hatches them for thirty days ; but frequently, 

 even of this small number of eggs, a part is addled ; and it is extremely 

 rar^ to find three eaglets in the same nest. It is asserted, that as soon 

 rt* the young ones are somewhat grown, the mother kills the most fee- 

 ble or the most voracious. If this happens, it must proceed only from 

 the necessities of the parent, who is incapable of providing for their 

 support, and is content to sacrifice a part to the welfare of all. 



The plumage of the eaglets is not so strongly marked as when they 

 come to be adult. They are at first white ; then inclining to yellow , 

 and at last of a light brown. Age, hunger, long captivity, and diseases 

 make. them whiter. It is said they live above a hundred years, and 

 that they at last die, not of old age, but from the beaks turning inward 

 upon the under mandible, and thus preventing their taking any food 



