182 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



good start and a beating, both in courage and in 

 pugnacity. 



Both these Eagles feed on a great variety of 

 prey. The Golden Eagle is perhaps the cleanest 

 feeder of the two, and eschews carrion so long as 

 living fare is to be obtained ; but even he, when 

 hard pressed by stress of weather or scarcity, will 

 not hesitate to feast on any dead carcase he may 

 chance to find upon the hills. The White-tailed 

 Eagle, however, in this particular is little cleaner 

 than a Vulture. Indeed, he is the Vulture of the 

 north, incessantly poking and prying about the 

 sea-shore and the sheep-farms for carrion ; fish, 

 flesh, and fowl all being eaten indiscriminately. 

 Both birds, however, chase living creatures, flying 

 them down in the open, or even driving the more 

 powerful animals bewildered over the cliffs. The 

 blue hares and the Ptarmigan that live in such 

 plenty on the mountain-tops, and the lambs and 

 weakly sheep, and the rabbits lower down the 

 hillsides, are all sought by them. Eagles are not 

 very noisy birds, but on occasion, especially in 

 the breeding season, utter an oft-repeated barking 

 or yelping cry. During the autumn and winter 

 months these birds are from time to time met 

 with in more lowland districts, either young ones 

 wandering from their birthplace, migrants from 

 across the seas, or individuals that have been 

 either tempted south by following in the train of 

 Arctic migrants Ducks and Geese especially 

 or driven from their native mountains by long 

 and severe winters. 



Here among these northern heights in the 

 country of the Eagles we may still, in a few 

 favoured localities, meet with the HEN HARRIER 



