120 t THE EAGLE. 



able circumstance occurred to the mother of a child; 

 she was working in the folds, and had laid her infant 

 on the ground, at a little distance ; soon after, an 

 Eagle darted down and carried it off. For a con- 

 siderable time the w r retched woman heard the poor 

 child screaming in the air; hut there was no help. 

 She saw it no more; in a little time she lost her 

 reason, and is, we believe, still living, confined in the 

 lunatic asylum of the town near which it happened. 

 On Tirst Holm, one of the Feroe Islands, si- 

 tuated between the north of Scotland and Iceland, a 

 similar fact occurred; an Eagle caught up an infant 

 lying at a little distance from its mother, and carried 

 it to its nest, situated on a point of high rock, so 

 steep, that the boldest bird-catchers had never ven- 

 tured to attempt to climb it; the mother, however, 

 ascended, and reached the nest, but alas! too late: 

 the child was dead, and its eyes torn out. But the 

 most striking story we have met with, is the brave 

 behaviour of a little boy in America; it occurred in 

 the parish of St. Ambrose, near New York. Two 

 boys, the one seven, and the other five years old, 

 were amusing themselves by trying to reap, while 

 their parents were at dinner. A large Eagle soon 

 ^ame sailing over them, and with a sudden swoop 

 attempted to seize the eldest, but luckily missed 

 him. The bird not at all dismayed, alighted at a 

 short distance, and in a few moments repeated his 

 attempt. This bold little fellow, however, gallantly 

 defended himself with his sickle, which he fortu- 

 nately held in his hand, and when the bird rushed 

 upon him, resolutely struck at it. The sickle entered 

 under the left wing, and the blow having been given 



