270 EAGLE 



growtli being the oak tree. Reference is here made to Liglitfoot's 

 Flora Scotica, Logan, (joldsmith, MacCiillivray, etc., etc., for 

 innumerable tales and details as to this noblest of birds. Their 

 numbers are not on the increase in Scotland ; the white-tailed 

 eagle was once so numerous and destructive as to give rise to an 

 Act of baliary in 1G26, offering a reward for the killing of same. 

 A noted Skye bird once was the spotted eagle. The eagle is 

 said to typify a strong man. The eagle is said to bark like a dog : 

 " comhartaich nan iolairean " is a phrase to be met with. In 

 modern heraldry, an eagle takes the same place among (or over) 

 birds as a lion does among (or over) beasts, representing strength, 

 swiftness, and courage. The expression "an t-ian riabhach," 

 speckled bird or spotted eagle, is found in Sean dana as 

 follows : — 



Co dhireas am mullach, no dh' fhogras m' coin riabhach o'n 

 leabaidh sheamh ? 



Who will ascend the hill, or chase my grey eaglets from 

 their peaceful bed } 



Various places are, as may be surmised, named after the eagle, 

 both in Gaelic and English, if not in all languages, such as larlraig 

 (iolairig), the place of the eagle, at Garva Bridge ; Allt-coire-na-h- 

 iolaire, near Loch Ericht, })rinted alas ! as Auld cory na helruck ; 

 Elruck (iolairig) is a place near Killyhuntly. 



The following description from Percival's poems we offer no 

 apology for presenting here : — 



i' Bird of the broad and sweeping wing, 

 Thy home is high in heaven, 

 Where wide the storms their banners fling 

 And the tempest clouds are driven ; 

 Thy throne is on the mountain top. 

 Thy fields the boundless air. 

 And hoary peaks that proudly prop 

 The skies, thy dwellings are. 

 Thou sittest like a thing of light 

 Amid the noontide blaze, 

 The mid-day sun is clear and bright. 

 It cannot dim thy gaze. 

 Thy pinions to the rushing blast 

 O'er the bursting billow spread, 

 Where the vessel plunges, hurry past 

 Like an angel of the dead. 

 Thou'rt perched aloft on the beetling crag. 

 And the waves are white below. 

 And on with a haste that cannot lag. 

 They rush in an endless flow. 

 Again thou hast plumed thy wing for flight 

 To lands beyond the sea. 

 And away like a spirit wreathed in light 

 Thou hurriest wild and free. 



