202 



EAGLES. 



but here he sees^ by the minute diamond-drops 

 resting thick on the grass, that a cloud has lately 

 stooped from its course, and refreshed the verdure 

 in this retreat. It looks very tempting, — this 

 bright sheet of water ; but no creature now comes 

 to drink, unless a sheep may have strayed from the 

 flock, and in its terror may yet venture to stoop to 

 the water, with many a start and interval of listen- 

 ing, till, at the faint sound of the distant sheep-dog, 

 it bounds away. The solitude is equally impressive, 

 whether the traveller comes up from one dale or 

 the other ; but perhaps the most striking to him 

 who comes from Wastdale, because he has rather 

 more lately left the dwellings of men. He ascends 

 from Wastdale Head, by the steep path clearly 

 visible from below, up the side of Great Gable. 

 At the top of the pass, the view behind is extreme- 

 ly fine, — the dale lying 1,000 feet below, while 

 the precipices of Sea wf ell rise 2,000 feet over head. 

 The rill from Spriukling Tarn is close by, and it 

 leads to this Sty Head Tarn, where the boars used 

 to come to drink. Long after the boars were gone, 

 the eagles came hither : and this was one of their 

 last haunts. The eagles which gave their name to 

 the crag in Borrowdale, being disturbed, settled 

 themselves on a rock at Seathwaite, and at length 

 crossed the ridge into Eskdale. The disturbance 

 was of course from the shepherds, who lost so 

 many lambs as to be driven desperate against the 

 birds. There was no footing on the crag by which 

 the nest could be reached ; so a man was lowered 

 by a rope sixty yards down the precipice. He 

 carried his mountain-staff with him ; its spiked end 

 being the best weapon against the birds. He did 



