56 BRITISH LAND BIRDS. 



and provided plentifully with food, by the parent 

 birds. The stores accumulated are almost in- 

 credible. Hares, lambs, the young of the deer 

 and roebuck, grouse, and various game-birds, con- 

 tribute to the feast. 



The following striking lines give a vivid picture 

 of the bird : 



" The tawny eagle seats his callow brood 

 High on the cliffs, and feasts his young with blood. 

 On Snowdon's rocks, or Orkney's wide domain, 

 Whose beetling cliffs o'erhang the western main, 

 The royal bird his lonely kingdom forms 

 Amidst the gathering clouds and sullen storms. 

 Through the wide waste of air he darts his sight 

 And holds his sounding pinions poised for flight ; 

 With glaring eye premeditates the war, 

 And marks his destined victim from afar ; 

 Descending in a whirlwind to the ground 

 His pinions like the rush of water sound ; 

 The fairest of the fold he bears away, 

 And to his nest compels the struggling prey." 



The eagle usually strikes his prey upon the 

 ground, and the blow is almost instantly fatal to 

 any animal on which he pounces. He shoots 

 down from an immense elevation, with lightning- 

 like velocity, and strikes his claw into the body 

 of the animal, up to the toe, so as to inflict a 

 deadly stroke. The swoop is slanting, and the 

 main blow is given with the eagle's hind toe. 



The rapidity with which a strong bird of prey 

 flies in pursuit of his quarry, is inconceivably 



