296 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



feed their brood, perhaps twenty miles off. Previous 

 to the year 1854, Eagles were numerous throughout 

 the west of Mayo, especially in Achill and Bally- 

 croy. Fowls were in those days constantly carried 

 off, close to the houses, and lambs and kids daily 

 from the fields. A gentleman who has known these 

 barren wilds since childhood assured me that gun, 

 poison, and trap were powerless to thin their ranks, 

 but that the long continuance of deep snow in 1854 

 caused great destruction amongst birds of prey, 

 since nearly all the game was starved to death, and 

 food in consequence denied to them, the Eagles 

 suffering most. 



Eagles are now not unfrequent in the desolate 

 mountains lying between the entrance to * the 

 Killeries and Lough Mask. In 1881 I viewed 

 more than one from the Westport Road that runs 

 near. A grouse-shooter told me he had lately seen 

 five or six in this locality in the course of a day, 

 and that he seldom walked far without finding the 

 remains of lambs, hares and grouse, to confirm their 

 presence. 



Achill, "the island of the Eagle," is now a safe 

 breeding-haunt for these noble birds. The cliffs of 

 Croaghan (almost 2,000 ft., perpendicular) and the 

 Cathedral cliffs at Menawn, 900 ft, consist of sheer 

 precipices extending for miles ; both these rocky 

 extents are, for the greater part, and where the 

 Eagles build, completely unassailable to the most 

 daring of cliff-climbers. Mr. Weldon, Mr. Pike, 

 and Lord Cavan, the chief proprietors in the island, 

 do their utmost to protect these birds. 



The tallest peak of Achill is Slievemore, on the 



