THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 



95 



Ireland, where, notwith- 

 standing its wild and 

 apparently untameable 

 character, one was taken 

 even after it had attained 

 maturity. It soon be- 

 came domesticated, and 

 firmly attached to the 

 place, where it continued 

 till it died, though per- 

 fectly at liberty, it never 

 having been chained, or 

 put under any restraint. 

 Its wings had, indeed, 

 been cut when first 



brought thither, but they Ea le ' 



were allowed to grow again ; and the noble bird, on recover- 

 ing the use of them, would repeatedly soar away, and absent 

 himself for a fortnight or three weeks. It became very much 

 attached to those who were in the habit of feeding or caress- 

 ing it. On its first arrival it had been placed in a garden, 

 situated on a slope overhanging a lake ; a house or shed had 

 also been built for its accommodation ; but it generally pre- 



1 ferred a perch of its own finding out, in the branch of a large 

 apple tree, which grew in nearly a horizontal position from 

 the stem. Its food was chiefly crows, which were shot for it, 



i sometimes, however, it attempted to procure them for itself, 

 but never successfully, as their agility in turning short and 



4 rapidly enabled them to elude its superior strength of wing j 



' latterly, therefore, it contented itself with eyeing them wist- 

 fully as they flew or perched securely over its head. It was 

 never suspected of committing any havoc among the sheep or 

 lambs in the adjoining fields ; but now and then, when from 

 some accident it had not been regularly supplied with its ac- 

 customed food, it would seize upon and kill young pigs. 

 Children, who constantly met it as it walked about the gar- 

 den, were never molested ; but on one occasion it attacked its 

 master with some violence, in consequence, as it was supposed, 



