42 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS chap, m 



struggling downwards, as he strove to cling to the projections of 

 the rock — but in vain, as he came to no stop till he reached 

 the bottorh, where we beheld him, after regaining his feet for a 

 short time, sink gradually to the ground. It was impossible 

 for us to reach the place where he lay dead without going so 

 far round that the daylight would have failed us. I must own, 

 notwithstandijig the reputed destructiveness of the eagle, that 

 I looked with great regret at the dead body of the noble bird, 

 and wished that I had not killed him, the more especially as I 

 was obliged to leave him to rot uselessly in that inaccessible 

 place. 



PTARMIGAN 



