The King of Birds 147 



March 1899. This bird is now preserved at the Post Office, 

 in Bala, where I saw it. The cutting from a Welsh news- 

 paper, attached to its glass case, states that it weighed 1 5 Ibs. ; 

 but the man who was responsible for its death assured me 

 that this was an error, the actual weight having been 13-!- Ibs. 

 It fell a victim to the eagle's well-known partiality for carrion, 

 having taken a poisoned bait upon the moor. No other 

 Eagle seems to have been seen in the neighbourhood for 

 very many years previously ; but it is not improbable that 

 a bird which frequented the mountains here, for a week or 

 two, in April 1 905, may have been another wandering Erne. 

 It was described to me by several persons who had seen it ; 

 one man saying that it had approached him so closely that he 

 was able " to see its great yellow feet " : in size, he main- 

 tained, " it was nearly as big as his cow ! " 



Although very well known in certain quarters, the story 

 of the crowning of the Eagle as king of all the feathered 

 tribes may not be so familiar to some of my younger 

 readers, and I therefore take the liberty of repeating it here. 

 It is said to date from as far back as the thirteenth century ; 

 but the rivalry between the Wren and the Eagle is of very 

 much older origin than that, having been referred to by 

 several ancient writers, Aristotle and Pliny amongst the 

 number. When the animals were liberated from the ark, 

 so the tale runs, the birds held a council for the purpose of 

 electing one of their number to rule over them, and it was 

 unanimously agreed that he who could mount nearest to the 

 sun was best fitted for the position. The Eagle had no 

 difficulty in out-soaring all other competitors ; but, when he 

 had become weary through his exertions, the Wren, who 

 had concealed itself amongst the Eagle's feathers, flew up 

 still higher, and in a merry outburst of song laid claim to 

 the crown. Opinions were divided when the council re- 

 assembled, some birds voting one way, others another ; and 

 while the matter was being debated, the Wren, whose 

 tactics were hardly approved of, was imprisoned in a 

 mouse-hole, and the Owl set to keep guard over him. 

 The debate, however, was so protracted that the sentinel 

 fell asleep at his post, and the prisoner escaped, at which 



