ABOUT EAGLES. 161 



" homes and hearths ! " We may estimate the species of 

 European birds at 600 ; of these, about 380 are indigenous 

 or occasional visitors to our own islands. Of all these, the 

 common grouse is the only British bird not found on the 

 Continent ; though probably most of our birds came from 

 Germany before Great Britain was rent from the main- 

 land. Many of these being feeble of wing, and incapable 

 of long flights, did not reach as far as Ireland. From the 

 Scandinavian mountains came the capercailzie or heath- 

 cock, and the ptarmigan. 



Of the eagles Western Europe can boast ten species : 

 one being indigenous to Sardinia ; and others, such as the 

 golden eagle and the osprey, or fishing eagle, being found 

 also in America. The largest of our eagles is the golden ; 

 the female, which is always the larger bird throughout the 

 Raptorial order, frequently measuring three feet and a 

 half in length, and upwards of eight feet from wing-tip to 

 wing-tip. We know of no better description of this noble 

 creature than that which Macgillivray furnishes. Though 

 often quoted, it will bear quotation again : — 



" There he stands erect, with his tail depressed, his large 

 wings half raised from his sides, his neck stretched out, 

 and his eye glistening as he glances around. Like other 

 robbers of the desert, he has a noble aspect, an imperative 

 mien, a look of proud defiance; but his nobility has a 

 dash of clownishness, and his falconship a vulturine tinge. 

 Still he is a noble bird, powerful, independent, but feroci- 

 ous, regardless of the weal or woe of others, and intent 

 solely on the gratification of his own appetites ; without 

 generosity, without honour, bold against the defenceless, 



(710) 11 



