ON EAGLES. 245 



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

 have frequented 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 perpendic- 

 ular, 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 a 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 him- 

 self of his success. He was not, however, the man to be 

 balked ; 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. 



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 unfrequent occurrence, when the sportsman 

 starts one, for an eagle to swoop down and carry it off, strug- 

 gling, 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 gen- 

 erally 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 



