THE EAGLE. 99 



which may explain in some degree the cause of so unusual 

 an attack. The brave little boy did not receive a scratch, 

 though there can be little doubt that had the bird not been 

 weakened by hunger, a blow or two from its sharp strong 

 beak would have penetrated through the skull into the brain, 

 and caused instant death. 



Eagles of this particular sort are very common in that 

 part of the country, and are often known to carry off a 

 Turkey, or even a Goose, but this was the first instance 

 of their attacking children, though in New South Wales 

 a celebrated navigator, Captain Flinders, met with some- 

 thing of the same sort. He was walking with some of 

 his officers when a large Eagle, with a fierce aspect and 

 outspread wing, was seen bounding towards them; but 

 stopping short at about twenty yards off, he flew up into a 

 tree. Soon after, another bird of the same kind discovered 

 himself, and flying above their heads, made a sudden pounce 

 downwards, but checked himself before he actually touched 

 them. Captain Flinders supposed that they took him and 

 his party for kangaroos, which, when sitting up on their 

 hind -legs, according to their usual habit, are about the 

 height and form of a man. On these animals the Eagles 

 were observed to feed, having been seen watching quietly in 

 the trees till a kangaroo made its appearance, when down 

 they flew, and tore it in pieces in an instant. Probably this 

 was the truth ; for the country was very desolate, and, as far 

 as they could judge, uninhabited, so that the Eagles might 

 never have seen men before. 



The well-known crest of the Eagle and Child, borne by 

 the Stanley family, is supposed to have been founded upon a 

 tradition of one of their ancestors, when a child, having been 

 carried off by an Eagle ; and a story is told in a very old 

 book on English History, which, whether true or not in all 

 its particulars, proves at least the prevailing belief, that 

 Eagles occasionally flew away with children ; indeed, there 

 was an ancient Act of Parliament " anent the slaying of the 

 Erne," that is, concerning the slaying of the Erne, the name 

 of a particular species of Eagle, in which, on account of its 

 H 2 



