204 FOREST CREATURES. 



eaglet ; he wanted, first, to test the possibility of getting 

 there, and, before carrying off the young bird, to bring- 

 down the old ones with his gun. Having now dis- 

 covered how to reach the eyrie, and ascertained that 

 the eaglet was well and nearly full-grown, he left him 

 there for the present. For eighteen days he descended at 

 dawn to the ledge, and returned in the evening, keeping 

 watch there eighteen hours at a time. He generally 

 left home at one o'clock in the morning, and reached 

 the place where he was to begin his descent by three : 

 an hour when, in the month of July, it is already 

 light. 



At last one of the old birds was shot. The other did 

 not return for a day or two ; and Count Arco, who had 

 seen how large and nearly full-fledged the eaglet was 

 when he visited the nest, bes^an to fear he mi^ht leave 

 the eyrie. As the remaining eagle seemed shy of re- 

 turning now that her mate had disappeared, he feared 

 the young bird might be in want of food. So he re- 

 solved once more to pay his young ward a visit. Lest 

 he should be hungry, he took a cat with him, which he 

 flung into the eyrie. But to make quite sure of his 

 prize, he tethered the bird to the nest, so that he might 

 certainly be there when he next came to fetch him. 

 When the second old bird was at last shot, he went a 

 third time to the eyrie, and took the eaglet. He was 

 already quite brown, being full-grown. He resisted 



