302 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



a horizontal flag which overtopped the precipice, 

 and within ten yards of me. 



" As regards Antrim, they say there are no 

 Eagles, but I lately saw one on the cliffs about 

 Garron Tower, and I am sure the north-east coast 

 of Antrim would be a most favourable breeding- 

 haunt for them." 



Colonel Cooper, of Markree Castle, Collooney, 

 co. Sligo, writing to me in October, 1881, says : 



" I am afraid the Golden Eagle is becoming 

 scarce, although, many years ago, I gave my keepers 

 orders not to kill them. I never heard of Eagles 

 breeding inland on any of the hills near Lough 

 Easky. A pair used to breed every year above 

 Skreen, and I hope do still, but about Benbulben and 

 the Glen Car Range is their favourite resort. Two 

 winters ago an Eagle, and now and then a second, 

 remained about the Union Rock and Ballygawly 

 Mountain all the season. I might easily have taken 

 it, but I did not allow my keepers to either trap or 

 shoot it. I afterwards heard that Mr. Wynne's 

 keeper destroyed three Eagles the following spring, 

 and I am afraid my visitor fell a victim to his taste 

 for mountain hares." 



With regard to the food of the Sea Eagle, Mr. 

 L. L. Dillwyn, the author of " Birds of the Swansea 

 District," writes me as follows : 



" I have never myself seen the Sea Eagle 

 kill hares, but after seeing one over the moor, 

 have often found hares freshly killed, and have no 

 doubt in my own mind that they were killed by 

 this "Eagle, though it is not commonly supposed 

 to do so. I have often seen it beating the ground 



