III. GOLDEN EAGLE. 



(Aquila chryscwtus.} 



THE illustration is from a sketch of a young full-grown bird 

 belonging to the Duke of Argyll, which was afterwards sent to 

 the Zoological Gardens. Its eyes were hazel, the plumage still 

 mottled, and the tail whitish. In the adult the plumage is of a 

 more uniform rich chocolate-brown, and the eyes are yellow. It 

 is rarer here than the Sea Eagle, but I have seen it occasionally 

 once flying near the coast of Ardnamurchan, pursued by Sea 

 Gulls ; and another time, perched on a rock at Ardnish. We 

 once found the remains of one in a steel trap lying on the sea- 

 shore. It had probably been caught in the island of Kum, and 

 had flown away with the trap till it fell exhausted into the sea, 

 and was washed ashore on this coast. The Eagle flies low in 

 pursuit of its prey, as the Goshawk does ; not pouncing, like the 

 Peregrine, but picking up its prey as it floats along. It is 

 probably too heavy to do otherwise. 



A friend of mine saw one skimming along a hillside and 

 swooping up a lamb in its claws as it went. When we first 

 came here there was an old deserted nest, said to be that of the 

 Golden Eagle, on a high cleft of a bare sea-beaten rock at the 

 point of Ardnish. It consisted of a great mass of coarse sticks 

 and heather stalks. It has now entirely disappeared, and has 

 never been replaced. 



I sketched two young ones also at Auchendarroch. They 

 were carried to the house with their legs carefully secured, 

 though they were very tame, for even a friendly grip of such 

 claws would be serious. They use their claws mostly in attack- 

 ing their prey, and the beak afterwards to tear it in pieces. 



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