DECEMBER 281 



LXV 



Within a few miles of the scene of this tragedy an- 

 other mournful episode falls to be chronicled. .^Q Age of 

 Six-and-forty summers ago, in days when tlieEa s le 

 the white-tailed eagles still bred on Cairnsmore, an 

 eaglet was taken from the eyrie, and has since endured 

 life-long captivity, chained by the leg to a granite 

 boulder. A few seasons after its birth, in 1858, the last 

 pair of his race in Galloway were trapped on the far side 

 of the Ayrshire boundary. Since then the captive has 

 scanned the heavens daily with angry, eager eyes, yet 

 never have they been gladdened by the sight of one of 

 his soaring kin ; and now the light in them is quenched 

 for ever. He lives, but he is totally blind. 



An eagle is the very type of freedom, yet I hesitate 

 to affirm that the life of this captive has been an 

 unhappy one. The wants of a wild animal probably 

 are simpler and fewer than we are inclined to reckon 

 them. Food supply, security from attack, and the 

 connubial instinct perhaps comprise all the sources of 

 disquiet. The Cairnsmore eagle has lacked nothing in 

 the first two respects ; in the last, indeed, he has been 

 hardly used, yet there are not wanting cynics who 

 declare that celibacy is a safeguard against many ills. 

 To have his lamb and rabbits regularly served without 

 the trouble of hunting the wastes in the worst of 

 weathers may be a cause of greater gratitude in the 

 bosom of this fine bird than the harshness of his voice 

 and the unsympathetic cast of his countenance permit 



