THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 79 



greatest marvels with which he met. It is probable 

 that the eagle thus trained to falconry, may have been 

 the imperial eagle, which is much more common in the 

 south and east, and which, though a powerful bird, is 

 not quite so savage as the golden eagle. That the 

 eagle was never used in European falconry, is certain. 

 It is invariably classed with the "ignoble falcons," 

 or those that keep as well as kill their prey. One bird is 

 said to give the eagle more trouble than any other, 

 and that is the heron, rather a light and feeble bird. 

 The heron gets under the shelter of a stone, or the 

 stump of a tree, where neither the wing nor the talons 

 of the eagle can be effective ; and from that position it 

 twists round its long neck, and bites and gnaws the 

 legs of its enemy. Several years ago, a heron was put 

 into the cage of a powerful eagle, at the Duke of Athol's, 

 at Blair. It immediately betook itself to the shelter 

 of a block of wood, which the eagle had for a perch, 

 and began to nibble and bite ; nor did the eagle van- 

 quish it till after a contest of twenty-four hours. It is 

 not very often, however, that the golden eagle fre- 

 quents the haunts of the heron ; her favourite ranges 

 are the open moors and uplands, where the prey can be 

 seen from a great distance, and there is little cover to 

 shelter it. In this country they do not often come to the 

 woods, though they do so in the mountainous parts of 

 France, where the winter is proportionally more severe, 

 and the animals, upon which they prey at other times, 

 are passing the cold season dormant in their holes. 



In Scotland, the eagle finds winter food in the very 

 fastnesses of the mountains. Of that food one favourite 

 article is 



