LOUGH DERG. 223 



ceased altogether. Slievan had fairly given 

 it up, and was asleep with his mouth open at 

 the bottom of the boat ; and M'Gowan was 

 putting the finishing touches to some buzz- 

 flies which he had been making ever since 

 the boat had left the Purgatory ; the lines 

 were still cast across the water, but lazily 

 and mechanically, — the thoughts of the fish- 

 ermen were evidently elsewhere. 



" What bird is that ? " said the Captain, 

 rousing himself. 



" Sure it's an aigle ! " said the men ; and, 

 for want of something better to do, the whole 

 party stood, sat, or reclined, watching the 

 bird as it hovered uneasily round and round 

 them. 



" I should not wonder," said the Captain, 

 who was a bit of an ornithologist, and in his 

 younger days had been an eminent bird's- 

 nester, — " I should not wonder at all if that 

 bird has a nest, late in the season as it is. 

 Pull out a hundred yards or so, and then lie 

 on your oars, and let us watch her." 



The boat was hardly pulled off the shore, 

 when the bird, having made some three or 

 four circles round the island, as if reconnoi- 

 tering the ground, dipped suddenly down in 



