ON EAGLES. 83 



the game, especially when they had young, the keepers 

 in the neighbourhood have been very diligent of late 

 years in searching out the eyries, and trapping the old 

 birds ; so that now, in this part of Perthshire, there is not 

 one for three nests that there were formerly. 



I recollect, some time ago, an eyrie in Glen-Luss, where 

 a pair hatched yearly ; but since the female was shot, no 

 others have haunted the place. The shooting of this 

 eagle was a service of great danger, and the man who 

 undertook it a most hardy and determined fellow. The 

 cliff was nearly perpendicular, and the only way of access 

 was over the top, where a single false step would have 

 sent him headlong into the gulf below. After creeping 

 down a considerable way, he saw the eagle sitting on her 

 eggs, a long shot off; but his gun was loaded with swan- 

 shot, so, taking deliberate aim, he fired: she gave one 

 shrill scream, extended her wings, and died on her nest. 

 His greatest difficulty now was, how to avail himself of his 

 success. He was not, however, the man to be baulked : 

 so, at the most imminent risk, he managed to get to the 

 eyrie, tumbled the eagle over the cliff, and pocketed the 

 two eggs. They were set under a hen, but did not 

 hatch. Had they been left, the male would, probably, 

 have brought them out, as he has been often known to 

 do in similar cases. I afterwards broke one of the shells, 

 and was quite astonished at its thickness. 



A fair shot may sometimes be got at the male when 

 there are young ones in the nest, as he will often swoop 





