132 ACCIPITKES. 



mediate neighbourhood was under crop. Indeed, when the 

 weather is very clear, and the eagles fly high, they continue 

 their course in perfect indifference to anything that may be 

 happening on the ground ; and I have been told, though I 

 do not .vouch for the fact, that they sometimes stoop down 

 and carry off hens, and even cats, from the very doors of the 

 cottages. I found, however, that eagles had been a sort of 

 "lions" with wandering tourists, and that any number of 

 stories of their achievements might be had cheap. I never 

 saw the golden eagle near the west coast or in the islands 

 (though that is no proof of its not being there), but I have 

 seen the sea eagle and the osprey. 



From what I have noticed of their habits, I am inclined 

 to believe that eagles in general choose those rocks, where 

 with an elevation and wildness which gives them the seclusion 

 that they seem to like in their retreats, they have the com- 

 mand of a double pasture ; a hill one, which they beat with 

 a lower flight when the weather is dusky, and a lower and 

 richer one, which they beat at a great elevation when the 

 weather is clear; at all events I have seen them on the 

 upper moors flying low on dusky days ; and again sailing 

 majestically over the lower and richer valleys when the day 

 was fine. 



The eyrie of those magnificent birds, which is a dwelling 

 as well as a cradle for their broods, is placed on some ledge 

 of the rock, and rarely on a tree, unless when the tangled 

 roots spring from the cliff, and offer a broad space which can 

 be covered with sticks. The place is generally slippery with 

 the refuse of their prey ; and when the young are there, it is 

 usually well stored with provisions, which consist indiscrimi- 

 nately of quadrupeds and birds. The eggs are seldom more 

 than two, though some say that there are occasionally three, 

 and that in such broods there are two females, one of which 

 becomes an " odd eagle," and lives solitary, growing to a very 



