76 THE EATEN. 



ffcd with meat, snails, and earth-worms ; they will a^so eat bread 

 soaked in milk, and after awhile, bread, meat, or any scraps 

 from the kitchen. In a state of nature, they subsist on leve- 

 rets, birds' eggs, mice, goslings, chickens, snails, pears, cherries, 

 &c., so that their usefulness to the farmer is not without draw- 

 backs. 



ADDITIONAL. The general appearance and habits in a domes- 

 ticated state of this bird are so well known, that we need scarcely 

 add anything to the account which BECHSTEIN gives of it. MUDIE 

 has drawn a graphic and vivid picture of its characteristic traits 

 as a bird of the wilderness.* 



Except in a domesticated state, opportunities of observing the 

 habits of the Eaven are comparatively rare, for the bird generally 

 shuns the habitations of man, and seeks the solitude and seclusion 

 of wild and mountainous districts ; no where is it more plentiful, 

 perhaps, than amid the rocks and about the sounding shores of 

 the Scottish isles, where putrescent animal food is likely to be 

 most abundant. In the Hebrides, and along the north coast of 

 Scotland, MACGILLIVEAY describes these birds as being nume- 

 rous ; he also says that they are common in the shires of Dumfries 

 and Peebles, and about the head of Moffat water, where they often 

 breed. " In the wilds of Polmoody, in the face of tremendous 

 linns and rocks, there juts out a dwarfish birch or mountain-ash ; 

 the same cleft has borne a Eaven's nest for centuries, where no 

 human creature can get at it." SHUCKHAED, who states that he 

 had ample opportunities of cultivating an acquaintance with 

 this species in the outer Hebrides, gives a lengthened descrip- 

 tion of its characteristics, which, however, agrees so closely with 

 vrhat MUDIE has said on the subject, that we need not quote 

 more than the following observations. " The Eaven sometimes 

 nestles at no great distance from the Eagle, in which cases these 

 birds do not molest each other ; but in general the former is a 

 determined enemy to the latter, and may often be seen harassing 

 it. 'What a brave soldier the Eaven is! he fights the Eagle, who 

 is four times his size,' I remember hearing an old highlander say 

 to me more than twenty years ago. But let us consider the 

 matter. 



" There goes the White-tailed Eagle ! Launched from the rock 

 of Liuir, she advances along the cliffs on her way to the inland 

 hills, where she expects to find a supply of food for her young. 

 Now she is opposite the promontory of Ui, whence, croaking in 

 fierce anger, rush two Eavens. The Eagle seems not to heed 

 them : but they rapidly gain upon her, and separating as they 

 * See " Feathered Tribes of the British Islands," 2 vols. Bohn. 



