244 



Dumfries and Galloway were once celebrated 

 for the number of eagles within their bounds ; 

 but, at the time I write, I doubt whether a pair 

 is to be found wild and unconfiried in the former 

 county, or more than a dozen in the wide district 

 of Galloway between the Nith and the Mull. 

 The only individuals with which I am acquainted 

 inhabit the lofty hill of Cairnsmuir, where they 

 are protected with the most religious care by the 

 proprietor. It seems to be a law in the economy 

 of nature, that, as civilization and cultivation 

 extend over the soil, the most savage and least 

 gregarious of its inhabitants depart from it 

 Doubtless, when the Almighty decreed that by 

 the sweat of man's brow alone should the earth 

 bring forth her increase, He also decreed that 

 with the progress of industry and labour, the 

 earth should be delivered from those pests, both 

 vegetable and animal, which naturally infest it ; 

 and the geographical distribution of the eagle, 

 and other predatory animals, as well in the new, 

 as in the old world, well illustrates this position. 



