84 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. The gamekeeper of my late father was shooting 

 wild-fowl, and having killed one, sent his retriever to fetch 

 it out of the water. The dog was in the act of doing so, 

 when an eagle stooped down, and seizing him, endeavour- 

 ed to carry off the duck : it was only by shouting with 

 all his might, that the keeper could alarm the eagle so 

 far as to make it fly a little clear of the dog, when he 

 shot it with his second barrel. The scuffle took place 

 only twenty yards from where he stood, and he told me 

 that he thought the eagle would certainly have drowned 

 his dog. 



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

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

 hounds were turning a hare as one rises, the other de- 

 scends, 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 ter- 

 ritories 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 





