TASTE OF CARNIVOROUS BIRDS, 140 



between ten missel-thrushes and a white-tailed eagle 

 (Haliatus albicilla, SAVIGNY), in which the latter 

 was completely beaten, and had squatted down in a 

 shed, where he had sought refuge. Attracted by 

 the reiterated cries and continued agitation of the 

 thrushes, whose manoeuvring announced something 

 extraordinary, I went to the spot, and was surprised 

 to discover them engaged with an eagle. Being in 

 what were called the royal preserves, I was not pro- 

 vided with arms, but unwilling to resist so fine an 

 opportunity of procuring a bird which would be 

 a valuable acquisition to my collection, I ran to my 

 house at Asnieres, a village not far from the spot, 

 and returned with a pistol loaded with a large ball, 

 as my fowling-piece would have too much exposed 

 me. I regained the plain ; I saw the eagle still 

 fighting with the missel-thrushes, who had not at 

 all given way ; and, in defiance of watchful and in- 

 flexible keepers, and the atrocious game-laws, with a 

 heart palpitating between joy and apprehension, I 

 approached within ten paces of the dastardly bird, 

 and nicely adjusting my pistol, killed him in a mo- 

 ment. Immediately burying my weapon, and con- 

 cealing the eagle among some brambles, I quitted 

 the place, looking eagerly around me with no little 

 apprehension, as every man whom I saw moving 

 about the plain seemed to me to wear a keeper's 

 uniform ; but this time the vigilance of the keepers 

 was at fault; there was no cause for alarm. I bore 

 off my prize, and gained my dwelling without de- 

 tection, where, proud of my acquisition, I invited all 

 my friends to be witnesses of my triumph*." 



In owls the gullet is larger than in eagles, but the 

 gizzard is similar in form, and the digastric muscle is 

 weak. The Abbe Spallanzani tried similar experi- 

 ments upon owls to those upon eagles, which we 

 * Oiseaux d'Afrique, vol. iii. 



