THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 165 



quick as thought he swoops down to it, and up again at 

 once, bearing away for his inaccessible fastness with the 

 helpless innocent stunned by the tumult of all those 

 quivering feathers. That any one should live to tell of 

 such attack is well nigh a miracle. Yet the wife of 

 Zeller survived to acknowledge the mercy of her escape 

 with thanks and gratitude. She " was playing on some 

 rocky hills of the country, when one of their large eagles 

 saw her, and darted down upon her head. A man with 

 a gun, not far distant, watched the motions of the eagle 

 but did not see the child. He fired, and killed the bird 

 at the moment of his darting on the child's head, and 

 great was his surprise on coming to the spot, to find the 

 dead eagle by the side of the child. The deep wounds 

 made by his talons in her head, showed what a narrow 

 escape she had from the voracious bird, and from being 

 wounded or killed by the gun." With a deep sense of 

 the mercy that had watched over and protected her, she 

 wholly devoted her life to the service of Grod.* 



In building their eyries, eagles always choose spots 

 that are inaccessible to their enemies. Some ledge, 

 sheltered if possible by the overhanging rock, whither 

 seemingly it is impossible for man to climb, and where 

 also the young bird will be safe from the attacks of 

 ferrets, weasels, martins, or other vermin ; for should 

 these discover and reach the nest while the parents were 



* Stephen Grellett's Memoii's. 

 M 3 



