128 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



these animals, the eagle evinced a degree of intelligence 

 that appeared extraordinary. They coursed the hares, 

 he said, with great judgment and certain success ; one 

 bird was the active follower, while another remained in 

 reserve, at the distance of forty or fifty yards. If the 

 hare by a sudden turn, freed herself from her most 

 pressing enemy, the second bird instantly took up the 

 chase, and thus prevented the victim from having a 

 moment's respite. 



He had remarked the eagles, also, while they were 

 engaged in fishing. They chose a small ford upon the 

 rivulet which connects Glencullen with Glandullah, 

 and, posted on either side, waited patiently for the salmon 

 to pass over. Their watch was never fruitless ; and many 

 a salmon, in its transit from the sea to the lake, was 

 transferred from his native element to the wild aerie in 

 the Alpine cliff, that beetles over the romantic waters 

 of Glencullen. 



Nor is it to birds of prey alone that the extreme scarcity 

 of game upon this island may be attributed. Foxes 

 are found here in numbers that appear incredible. The 

 sides of Slieve More, in places formed of masses of 

 disrupted rock, afford numerous and inaccessible burrows 

 to those mischievous animals ; and the sand-banks, 

 stocked with rabbits, offer them an easy and certain 

 means of subsistence. Hence, their annual increase 

 is wonderful ; and the numbers on the island may be 

 estimated from this simple fact, that one of the coast- 

 guards, who happened to have a couple of good terriers, 

 destroyed, in the space of a season, eighteen full-grown 

 foxes. The multitude of lambs lost by these depre- 

 dators, has nearly deterred the islanders from keeping 

 ewes ; and there is not a spot in Great Britain so 



