EAGLES. 303 



like a dog, quartering it, and evidently to me 

 in search of hares. My head keeper, F. H earns, 

 and the people about say they kill them. I have 

 seen one with my own eyes seize a tame goose near 

 my lodge here (Ballycastle, co. Mayo). There was 

 a pair of Eagles, and when one came down after 

 the goose, the other soared about at a considerable 

 height, as if keeping a look-out. One of my care- 

 takers, who lived near some rocks where Eagles 

 breed, once caught a young one, which he kept 

 tied up in his farm premises for me. I did not 

 want it, however, so he killed it, as the old one 

 used to come every morning and catch one of his 

 geese, or fowls, with which to feed the imprisoned 

 young one. 



" They eat carrion, and may eat fish ; but 

 though I have seen them frequently, and almost 

 constantly, over the moor as though searching for 

 prey, I have never seen them fishing in the sea, 

 nor even flying near the surface of the water. 

 They breed, however, over the sea in almost inac- 

 cessible rocks." 



F. H earns adds that he has known the above 

 locality since 1866, and that every year since then 

 there has been an Eagle's nest in the neighbouring 

 cliffs, and one year a couple. He says he has often 

 watched the female bird when hatching her eggs, 

 and that Eagles build at this date yearly on the 

 coast lying between Benwee Head and Down- 

 patrick Head ; the cliffs of Porturlin being often 

 chosen as a nesting-place. 



Mr. R. Lloyd Patterson, of Belfast, informs me 

 that he is not aware of any Eagles in the north 



