94



The Ways of Eagles



and attacked the Eagle to distract its attention from the tiercel, the

latter made for the trees, carrying her prey in her talons. Disregarding

the onslaught of the Falcon, the Eagle went after the tiercel; but

before he could get up to her another robber, this time a Tawny Eagle,

appeared on the scene. The tiercel dodged his first swoop, but at the

second dropped her prey, which the Tawny Eagle grabbed before it

reached the ground. Then the Fishing Eagle made for the Tawny,

and the latter, turning upon her back in self-defence, gave the former

the chance to.grab the Mynah, and in the tussle that ensued the two

great marauders came fluttering to the ground together. A second

Tawny Eagle now came up, but contented itself with circling round the

combatants without entering the fray. The next arrival was a Steppe

Eagle who sat down alongside and looked as though she meant business,

but before she made up her mind there was a great swish of wings, and a

fine female Imperial dropped from the heavens and without any

hesitation went straight into the melee. The Tawny let go her hold

almost immediately, and flew off, but the Fisherman hung on for a

few seconds and then he, too, resigned himself to the inevitable, and let

go. He, however, did not fly, but merely walked off a few T yards, and

turned round again to face the Imperial. The latter, having secured

the bone of contention, raised herself to her full height, and erecting

her neck feathers in her anger, gave vent to a succession of raucous

calls. Still other Eagles continued to arrive, although ten minutes

before there was not one to be seen, apart from the Pallas’s Fishing

Eagle, which was on the spot when the luckless Mynah was struck

down by the Falcon. Finally there were no fewer than seven Eagles,

belonging to five species, on the scene, namely, one Pallas’s, one Imperial,

one Spotted, two Tawny, and two Steppe. Some of these were circling

above the spot, the others squatting round the Imperial, which made

no attempt to eat the Mynah clutched in her claws. The Fishing Eagle

sat passively by ; but the author, finding the scene getting monotonous,

advanced towards the company, whereupon all the Eagles on the

ground took wing, except the Imperial and the Fishing, which refused

to stir, so intent were they watching one another. Finally, however,

when Mr. Donald was within 25 yards of them, the Imperial rose

into the air. This was evidently what the Fishing Eagle had been



