74 HISTORY OF 



It happened some time ago, in the same coun- 

 try, that a peasant resolved to rob the nest of an 

 eagle that had built in a small island in the beau- 

 tiful lake of Killarney. He accordingly stripped, 

 and swam in upon the island while the old ones 

 were, away ; and, robbing the nest of its young, 

 he was preparing to swim back, with the eaglets 

 tied in a string ; but, while he was yet up to his 

 chin in the water, the old eagles returned, and, 

 missing their young, quickly fell upon the plun- 

 derer, and, in spite of all his resistance, dispatch- 

 ed him with their beaks and talons. 



In order to extirpate these pernicious birds, 

 there is a law in the Orkney islands which entitles 

 any person that kills an eagle to a hen out of 

 every house in the parish in which the plunderer 

 is killed. 



The nest of the eagle is usually built in the 

 most inaccessible cliff of the rock, and often 

 shielded from the weather by some jutting crag 

 that hangs over it. Sometimes, however, it is 

 wholly exposed to the winds, as well sideways as 

 above ; for the nest is flat, though built with great 

 labour. It is said that the same nest serves the 

 eagle during life ; and indeed the pains bestowed 

 in forming it seems to argue as much. One of 

 these was found in the Peak of Derbyshire ; 

 which Willoughby thus describes. " It was made 

 of great sticks, resting one end on the edge of a 

 rock, the other on two birch trees. Upon these 

 was a layer of rushes, and over them a layer of 

 heath, and upon the heath rushes again ; upon 

 which lay one young one and an addle egg, and 



