COERACH-BAH; OR, A PLEA FOR THE WASTES. 231 



round and round, and fell headlong into the yawning abyss, 

 quite dead. I now took a long breath, and but for Peter's 

 delighted face, could scarcely persuade myself she had fallen. 

 If he had either hallooed loud or thrown straight at the eagle, 

 she would most likely have dashed out, wheeling and tumbling 

 an uncertain and difficult shot. Fain would I have secured 

 the eggs, but this was impossible without ropes, which we had 

 neglected to bring. Peter, however, offered to send them to 

 Cladich the next day. 



I was now impatient to secure my prize. We had to descend 

 the sloping ridge, and come round in front, at the base of the 

 chasm. It was, certainly, a lordly fortress a fit abode for 

 this marauding Thane of the Wastes. Flanked by bastions 

 and buttresses of massy rock, which guarded the stronghold on 

 either side, and keeping watch upon its rugged eminence, the 

 eagle's sleepless eye could detect the most minute or distant 

 object in the valley beneath. 



We searched the rough ground at the foot of the precipice 

 for some time, without discovering the dead eagle. Indeed we 

 both fancied that she had dropped much farther off than was 

 actually the case. At last I discovered the red-brown feathers, 

 like a large tuft of her own heather, close to the foot of the 

 cliff. A finer specimen could not be seen ; the markings were 

 perfect, and the plumage in first-rate order. 



The sun had now risen high and clear, the surrounding 

 mountains looked low, warm, and blue. I was now gay as 

 Peter, and, while we tramped over moor and moss, I made him 

 repeat his forest tales. I found that the " extraordinary feet " 

 he had so minutely described belonged to the night-jar, which 

 bird, however, is rarer in the forest than in more cultivated 

 localities. Some of his anecdotes of eagles were really worth 

 notice, as illustrating the strength and. ferocity of the bird. 

 A couple, cock and hen, were trapped at the same bait by 

 Eobertson. As they were not seriously injured, he wished to 

 bring them home alive. This would have been an impossi- 



