EAGLES. 299 



find words to explain her grief, but with outstretched 

 arms pointed to the snatcher a mere speck in the 

 sky, as he winged his way across the sea to Clare 

 Island, five miles distant. Boats, urged by strong 

 men in frenzied haste, soon traversed the inter- 

 vening water. At Clare Island all were aroused, 

 ropes and willing hands ere long reached the rob- 

 bers' retreat, and there the child lay peacefully sleep- 

 ing on the ledge of rock used as the plunderers' 

 nest ! The eaglets were busy rending a lamb 

 freshly brought them by their other parent, thus 

 happily for a time disregarding the child, which 

 was eventually restored to its mother's breast, safe 

 and without a scratch ; for the thick red flannel 

 that Achill women wrap their babes in had pro- 

 tected the flesh from the Eagle's talons. 



A resident of Achill told me that, a few years 

 since, the girl who, as an infant, thus narrowly 

 escaped death was living, and that he knew 

 her well. Eagles fly backwards and forwards 

 across Clew Bay from Achill to the Killeries, 

 where they also breed. Like the Peregrine 

 Falcon, the old birds always turn the eaglets adrift 

 to shift for themselves, after a few lessons in hawk- 

 ing and flying. 



When crossing the bay, they are often seen by 

 the islanders and fishermen at sea carrying hares 

 and lambs in their talons ; and have more than once 

 been known to drop their booty in the water, finding 

 it too heavy to carry some twenty miles without 

 a rest. 



A peasant, last year, taking shelter from a storm, 

 was startled by what he thought a lump of rock 



