BIRDS OF PREY 135 



If the wholesale and, from our standpoint, wanton 

 destruction of the most interesting class of our British 

 birds continues, those who like to observe them In 

 their native haunts may have to go a long distance 

 to do so. In many localities where they were once 

 numerous not a single specimen can now be dis- 

 covered, to the sorrow of the true naturalist, who 

 believes that no creature was created in vain ; each 

 one has its own work and place in the Great Father's 

 universe. 



On the list of Raptores, the first by right is the 

 golden eagle, a noble and very powerful bird. Sports- 

 men-naturalists have described him and his habits 

 accurately ; St. John, Colquhoun, and the Highland 

 keepers of the deer forests, besides that practical and 

 reliable authority Macgillivray. This eagle is a bird 

 of the mountains ; he does not often leave the rocks 

 for any other purpose than a foray for food. My 

 acquaintance with him has only been in a state of 

 captivity. Even in that condition, unfavourable as it 

 is to the development of his faculties, I have seen 

 enough of his courageous spirit and enormous power 

 of muscle to give him plenty of elbow-room. With 

 his master or keeper he may get on a friendly footing, 

 but even then his mood is not to be relied on ; his 

 fierce nature will break through and manifest itself 



