270 ON EAGLES. 



down in their defence : at any other time, he is the most 

 shy and wild of birds. I only know of one instance to the 

 contrary, and that was in the depth of a very severe 

 winter, when the creature was rendered desperate by 

 hunger. 



When two eagles are in pursuit of a hare, they show 

 great tact it is exactly as if two well-matched greyhounds 

 were turning a hare as one rises, the other descends, until 

 poor puss is tired out : when one of them succeeds in 

 catching her, it fixes a claw in her back, and holds by the 

 ground with the other, striking all the time with its beak. 

 I have several times seen eagles coursed in the same way 

 by carrion-crows and ravens, whose territories they had 

 invaded : the eagle generally seems to have enough to do 

 in keeping clear of his sable foes, and every now and then 

 gives a loud whistle or scream. If the eagle is at all 

 alarmed when in pursuit of his prey, he instantly bears it 

 off alive. Where alpine hares are plentiful, it is no unfre- 

 quent occurrence, when the sportsman starts one, for an 

 eagle to swoop down and carry it off, struggling, with 

 the greatest ease : in this case, he always allows the 

 hare to run a long way out of shot before he strikes, 

 and is apt to miss altogether. When no enemy is 

 near, he generally adopts the more sure way of tiring out 

 his game. 



The method of the golden eagle in destroying red-deer 

 calves is exactly akin to the reflection of the royston and 

 carrion-crows, when breaking the shells of mussels. After 

 pouncing upon the deer calf, and finding the impossibility 



