its enemy. To this bird in Shetland, where it is 

 called buncie, is almost entirely trusted by the 

 natives the protection of their lambs from the 

 ravages of the eagle, daring the summer months ; 

 and there, in return for the care they afford, 

 they are always allowed to wander unrestrained 

 over the island, being regarded with great vene- 

 ration and kindness. The skua gull possesses an 

 inveterate dislike to the eagle ; for, no sooner 

 does he emerge from his rocky habitation among 

 the cliffs, than the gulls descend upon him from 

 the tops of the mountains, in bodies of three or 

 four, and never fail to force the eagle to a preci- 

 pitate retreat. 



"I was particularly amused one evening," says 

 Mr. Drosier, in Louden's Magazine of Natural 

 History, for July 1830, "when standing at the 

 foot of the loftiest hill (called by the natives 

 Snuge\ with the following circumstances : An 

 eagle was returning to his eyrie, situated on the 

 face of the western crags, in appearance perfect- 

 ly unconscious of approaching so near to his in- 

 veterate foe, as, in general, the eagle returns to 

 the rocks from the sea, without ever crossing 

 the smallest portion of the island. This time, 

 however, he was making a short cut to it, by 

 crossing an angle of the land. Not a bird was 

 discernible : a solitary skua might, indeed, be 

 occasionally seen, wheeling his circling flight 

 around the summit of the mountain, which was 

 already assuming its misty mantle. As I was 

 intently observing the majestic flight of the eagle, 



