EXPERIENCES WITH EAGLES. 189 



succeeded in this feat, but at that time the most carefully 

 executed "stalk" invariably failed for one reason or 

 another ; nor could the eagle be beguiled to come to a bait. 

 Nothing remained but to take what is perhaps an unfair 

 advantage. On April 16th we found a nest, a broad i^lat- 

 form of branches built on the very summit of a towering 

 alcornoque. Beneath this, in a hut of cistus-twigs, a prey 

 to mj^riad mosquitoes, I awaited the eagle's return. 

 Slowly passed some hours of torture before she re-appeared, 

 took one wide circuit around, and descended with a rush 

 like a whirlwind upon her eyry, completely disappearing 

 from view within its ample circumference. This event I 

 had not foreseen, and hoped to kill the eagle in the act of 

 alighting. Now it only remained to put her off. Gently I 

 removed my boots, crept from the hut, and walked round 

 the tree — a mountain of green foliage. From no other 

 point was the great nest visible ; so I braced up my nerves 

 and shouted. There followed a slight rustling; then 

 the huge wings extended, and for a single instant I saw, 

 through intervening foliage, the whole of the coveted 

 symmetrical form, ere she wheeled back across the tree. 

 A No. 1 cartridge crashed through the branches ; a shower 

 of leaves and black feathers floated in the air — instinctively 

 I felt the blow must be mortal, though no vital spot had 

 been presented. Intense was my joy when next she 

 appeared, to see the eagle slanting downwards towards the 

 earth. There she recovered an even keel ; the second 

 barrel, too careless perhaps, had no effect, and the great 

 bird slowly flap - - flapped away. Each moment I watched 

 for her collapse, but she still held on, on, across the 

 open, and behind some distant trees was lost to view. 

 Then the iron entered my soul, nor was it any solace to 

 hear, some time afterwards, that that very afternoon my 

 eagle had been found by a couple of carabine ros ; not till 

 a fortnight later was the useless corpse recovered. 



It was the 6th of May before we found another nest 

 in a distant dchesa — again built on an ah-onioquc (cork- 

 oak), the highest of a clump bordering a small swamp. 

 This eagle sat close, not moving till I scood ready beneath. 



