18 GOLDEN EAGLE. 



by a savage mastiff dog. The battle was not witnessed, but 

 it must have been a long and well-fought one. The Eagle 

 was slain on the spot: he did not, however, die unrevenged, 

 for his antagonist very shortly afterwards expired of his wounds. 

 Again, instances have occurred where Eagles which have carried 

 off such animals as weasels, stoats, etc., have been attacked 

 with relentless bite by these fell blood-suckers, and have at 

 last fallen to the ground lifeless in consequence. There is a 

 similar story told of the encounter of one in the air with a cat, 

 which it had carried off. He was fairly brought to the ground, 

 the talons of the cat proving more effective than his own, 

 and both were captured together. 



When the Golden Eagle has pounced upon its victim, it 

 kills it, if small, by a stroke with its talons, behind the head, 

 and another at the region of the heart. It seems not to use 

 the bill for slaughter, but only for tearing up its prey when 

 killed. It generally, in spite of its care and skill in skinning 

 or plucking, swallows part of the fur or feathers, or small 

 bones, or parts of bones of the animal or bird it has seized, 

 and these it afterwards disgorges from its mouth in large pellets. 



In India, and other countries, there are numerous accounts 

 of young children having been carried off by Eagles, but, as 

 it must now be impossible to say with any certainty what 

 species they were of, though possibly in some, or even in 

 many cases, they may have been of the one I am treating of, 

 yet as in others, beyond all doubt, they have been birds of 

 the Yulture kind, or of other species of Eagles, I omit them 

 from this account, recording those instances alone in which 

 the bird at present before us has been the robber. 



By the Ancients the Eagle was denominated the Bird of 

 Jove, and alone deemed worthy of bearing his thunder. The 

 Highland Chieftain at the present day, exhibits the Eagle's 

 plume as the designation of his nobility, and as uncivilized 

 nations have also always associated birds of this tribe with 

 the idea of courage, quickness, and dignity, their warriors too 

 in like manner pride themselves on the badge which the 

 feathers of the Eagle furnish them with, either as an emblematic 

 trophy of past, or a pledge of future bravery and daring. They 

 prize it so highly, that they will often exchange a valuable 

 horse for the tail feathers of a single Eagle. They also adorn 

 with them their arrows, and the calumet or pipe of peace. 

 The feathers of the Eagle are used in our own country for 

 making certain salmon flies. 



