36 ANECDOTES. 



changes of any one particular region have no effect 

 upon him. Contented, in general, with making his 

 meal on the mountain-hare or the ptarmigan of his 

 native height, he but seldom disturbs man ; and man, 

 in turn, were it not for the temptation of gold, need 

 seldom disturb him. If he do occasionally vary the 

 monotony of his life of royal solitude by a foray on the 

 sheepfold or elsewhere, might it not be overlooked, for 

 the sake of preserving one of the greatest ornaments 

 associated with these mountainous regions ? 



Donald has several stories of the eagle, which he 

 has related to us as we were wandering among the 

 hills together. On one occasion an eagle was seen 

 struggling violently with some other animal on the 

 surface of a pool. Donald's father chanced to be near 

 with a gun, and, thinking that he might possibly get a 

 salmon for his supper, he shot the eagle, and at the 

 same time, to his surprise, killed a large otter; the 

 eagle's talons being so deeply imbedded in its back 

 that the two could not be separated. Now and then a 

 lamb is carried off; but this is a comparatively rare 

 occurrence, the fox being a much more deadly enemy. 

 Within the last fortnight, however, an eagle has done 

 very serious damage in a neighbouring strath. 

 Pouncing suddenly on a foal, while roaming on the 

 hillside with its mother, the bird plunged its talons 

 into the eyes of the poor creature, which in its terror 

 rushed headlong over a precipice, and was at once 

 killed by the fail. Such displays of his power, how- 

 ever, as these are exceedingly few and far between. 

 While therefore it might be advisable to prevent their 

 frequent occurrence, by keeping down the number of 

 eagles below certain limits, it seems cruel and unjust 

 to extirpate or banish from our islands so noble a relic 



