EAGLES. 297 



seaward cliff of which the following incident 

 occurred : 



A fisherman descended to rob an Eagle's nest. 

 In the act of doing so, the old birds attacked him. 

 He made a self-defending stab at the most aggres- 

 sive with his knife, and, in so doing, severed all 

 but one strand of the rope that supported him 

 'twixt sea and sky. He called lustily to the 

 men above, who quickly hauled him to the top. 

 The remaining strand parted when he was close to 

 the summit, and just as he grasped the slippery 

 brink of the precipice. A few seconds more, and 

 he would have been food for the birds he robbed. 

 The very spot where this took place is still shown 

 to climbers. 



This same peak was the scene of an awful acci- 

 dent in the spring of 1 88 1 . A lady visitor to Dugort, 

 alone and unguided, attempted to scale the height. 

 At nightfall she was missed. All was consternation 

 in the little colony. Every available man ran hither 

 and thither up the slopes, calling and showing lights 

 in vain. One climber strayed from the rest. His 

 lantern failed ; he lay resting on the heather at 

 the base of a cliff. He feared to wander far in the 

 gloom, and anxiously longed for the coming day. 

 The sun rose grandly over the mountains to the 

 east ; a robin tunefully welcomed the brightening 

 dawn ; never sang robin sweeter than to the weary 

 climber. Two Eagles circled unusually low- over- 

 head, and there, close by, lay the object of his 

 search, shattered and lifeless. 



On Curraun Mountain, near the south entrance 

 to Achill sound, three years since, a herd was 



