CHAP, x.] EAGLES. 83 



of eagles being knocked down when unable to rise from over- 

 eating. On one occasion a curious kind of character, who acted 

 the part of hanger-on to me in my deer-shooting excursions, 

 brought home an eagle, which he had killed with his stick before 

 it could rise from the ground. This man, who was dumb, and 

 was supposed (very erroneously) to be half-witted also, had a 

 great penchant for assisting in beating the woods for roe or deer ; 

 and from long acquaintance with the country, and from a pro- 

 pensity (very common to people similarly afflicted) for wandering 

 about, he had a perfect knowledge of every corner of the extensive 

 woods on the property, and also a most shrewd guess as to where 

 the deer would be lying, and in which direction they would break 

 cover. Though generally of a most morose and even malicious 

 temper, Muckle Thomas, as they called him, entertained a great 

 affection, in his way, for me ; and every morning was to be found 

 seated in front of the windows, smoking a solitary pipe, and wait- 

 ing to see if I wanted him. Though dumb, he was not deaf, and 

 understanding what was said to him, could make himself quite 

 intelligible by signs, assisting my comprehension by drawing, in 

 a rude way, figures on the ground with the long staff which he 

 invariably carried. One morning I had sent him to look in a 

 certain part of the woods to see if any deer's tracks were visible. 

 In an hour or two he returned with something large bundled up 

 in his plaid, which he opened, and cast down his load at my feet 

 with a look and grunt of triumph. After some explanatory 

 signs, &c., I found out that he had come on the eagle, who had 

 so completely gorged himself with a rotten sheep in the wood 

 that it could not rise. 



Another instance occurred in the same country. A shepherd's 

 boy found an eagle gorging itself on some drowned sheep in a 

 watercourse, and being, like all herd-boys, as skilful as David in 

 the use of sling and stone, he had broken the eagle's pinion with 

 a pebble, and had actually stoned the poor bird to death. In 

 this case the eagle was taken at peculiar disadvantage, being 

 surprised in a deep rocky burn, out of which he would have had 

 difficulty in rising quickly, even if he had not dined so abun- 

 dantly. When wounded by shot, or even ufter escaping (but 

 maimed) from a trap, the eagle is often unable to rise. A curious 

 anecdote was told me by a friend. An eagle had been caught in 



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