272 THE EAGLE IN ENGLAND 



and the next year the same bird built close by, and 

 also procured a " soap-root " to place on the side of its 

 nest, which showed some individuality in taste. A 

 third eagle had a fancy for sacks, and after its old nest, 

 which contained a corn-sack, had been blown out by a 

 storm, it built a fresh one close by, and in this was 

 found another and a new sack. The eagles seem to be, 

 at any rate in some parts of California, almost as 

 common as the kite was in England, and to have 

 the same propensity for carrying to their nests any 

 object which strikes them as ornamental or interesting. 

 It is not to be supposed that, under the most favourable 

 circumstances, the golden eagle will increase to such 

 numbers in the Highlands. But there is every proba- 

 bility that, as its area extends in the North, some of its 

 earlier breeding places in the South, such as the 

 Cheviots, the Peak of Derbyshire, or Westmoreland 

 and Cumberland, where it nested as lately as 1838, 

 may be revisited, and that we may before long see the 

 golden eagle re-established in England. 



The following extracts from a letter communicated 

 to the writer by one who has unequalled facilities for 

 acquaintance with golden eagles gives an idea of the 

 great increase in their numbers, and of their boldness 

 in the " protected areas " of the deer forests where they 

 live. " Eagles are more plentiful now, I should imagine, 

 in this forest than anywhere else in Scotland, as they 

 have always been carefully preserved. Three years 

 ago, indeed, while I was stalking hinds in the winter, 

 I saw eight in one day. One rarely goes out stalking 





