88 A VANISHING BIRD 



swaddled child, a month old, which the mother 

 had laid down until she went to the back of the 

 peat stack at Honton Head, and carried it off 

 to Choye, four miles, being discovered by a 

 traveller who heard the lamentations of the 

 mother ; four men went presently thither in a 

 boat, and, knowing the eagle's nest, found the 

 child without any prejudice done to it.' To this 

 may be added that this quotation is also given 

 'without prejudice.' 



But the eagle did not always come off vic- 

 torious ; there is record of an instance where 

 one was seen to strike a fish which proved too 

 heavy for its strength, so that it disappeared 

 into the depths. In a similar case the dead 

 fish and dead eagle were both washed ashore ; 

 while a great halibut was once got, in whose 

 back were still imbedded the feet of an eagle 

 telling their own tale. 



This bird is known by a number of Gaelic 

 names, as lolair-bhreac (spotted eagle), lolair- 

 cladaich (shore eagle), lolair-bhuide (yellow 

 eagle), lolair-riabhach (brindled eagle), lolair- 

 na-mara (sea eagle), and lolair-shuil na-greine 

 (eagle of sunlit eye). But the latter poetic name 

 was most probably not meant to be descriptive 

 of this species only ; indeed, it is doubtful 

 whether exact discrimination had always been 



