270 EAGLES ON AN ENGLISH LAKE 



hang round the lake all day, and do not travel any 

 distance from the waters, they spend most of their time 

 sitting in some big tree near the margin. When they 

 take a flight, they look like enormous owls flapping 

 across the park on some misty December day. If one 

 flies down the centre of the lake, the ducks either rise 

 in a body and fly out to sea, or take a short flight, and 

 then, as the eagle overhauls them, drop like stones on 

 to the surface. One of the most instantaneous panics 

 among the ducks caused by an eagle was one bright 

 winter day, when the surface was all frozen, except 

 some two acres at the lower end, where about a thou- 

 sand ducks were collected. Suddenly the whole mass 

 of ducks rose and flew, with a noise like an explosion. 

 The disturber was an eagle, which flew suddenly round 

 a wood and over the lake. 



Peregrine falcons seem never absent from this lake, 

 and they kill and eat the wild ducks, teal, and widgeon, 

 which are possibly too quick for the eagles. Recently, 

 in April, the writer was watching a bunch of widgeon, 

 with a few teal, flying up the lake, when a peregrine 

 dashed after them, overtook them in a second, caught 

 a teal, and carried it for some twelve yards, and then 

 dropped it. The teal twisted round, flew back in the 

 opposite direction, and then dropped on the water, 

 evidently unhurt. This was only the falcon's ' fun,' 

 for they never kill a bird over the water, though when 



