THE SEA-EAGLE. 141 



ducks and pigs, they would have more than a Canadian 

 reward, with nothing of Canadian peril or Canadian labour. 



" Where the carcasses are, there will the eagles be gathered 

 together ;" wherever there is grass, there will be browzing ; 

 wherever there is prey, there will be predatory animals; and 

 among those of the district alluded to, the sea eagle is one of 

 the most conspicuous. She strikes on the ground, she hawks, 

 she fishes, and in short labours, and labours most indus- 

 triously, by all the arts that an eagle can ply, to keep those 

 classes of the population of which her natural instincts give 

 her the charge, within the limits of their supply of food, 

 with more than Malthusian assiduity. Seated on some rock 

 that overlooks the waters, she views the salmon attempting 

 to get over the shallow, or the salt-water fish showing its 

 back near the shore, and down she rushes, pressing the fish 

 to the ground till her long claws are buried in it up to the 

 toes, and then she rises and sails off in triumph, to eat her 

 dinner or to feed her brood. If grous, sea-bird, or any large 

 bird comes within the range of her telescopic eye, she speeds 

 with equal alacrity, and though she is not by any means so 

 expert on the wing as the falcons or hawks, she fails not in 

 obtaining abundant prey. 



Here we may remark, that the talons of the sea eagle, 

 which are proportionably larger in size, are better adapted for 

 lifting, though less so for laceration, than those of the golden 

 eagle. Those of the golden eagle, and indeed of all that kill 

 exclusively on dry land in daylight, are grooved on the under 

 sides with two sharp cutting ridges, so that as they clutch 

 they tear and lacerate ; but in the sea eagle the ridges are 

 not so sharp, and thus not quite so killing, though as 

 clutching. 



In the lambing season, which under that dripping sky is a 

 hard one for the flocks, she beats over the sheep pastures, 

 destructive both of lambs and of weakly and disabled sheep, 



