66 THE BOOK OF BIRDS 



the days of Queen Elizabeth. When you read Edmund 

 Spenser's famous poem, The Faerie Queene, you will come 

 across a reference to this fancy — 



"As eagle, fresh out of the ocean wave, 



Where he hath left his plumes all hoary gray 



And deckt himself with fethers youthly gay, 

 Like eyas-hauke^ up mounts unto the skies, 



His newly-budded pinions to assay ,^ 



And marveiles at himselfe, stil as he flies." 



An Eagle kills his prey not with the beak but with his 

 muscular feet and sharp claws. When he swoops upon 

 hare or grouse, he drives his claws into the victim's body, 

 and usually carries it off through the air without pausing 

 in his flight. The grip is tremendous. 



An Irish gamekeeper once had cause to remember the 

 fact. It was in County Meath, and he had come upon 

 an Eagle sleeping ofi" the effects of a heavy meal. The 

 bird had been dining off a dead sheep, and the man crept 

 up noiselessly and threw his arms round it, wishing to 

 capture it alive. The startled bird had vigour enough to 

 drive its talons into its assailant's chest, and the keeper 

 thereupon strangled the fierce creature. Even then he 

 could not unlock the grip of those claws, and finally he 

 had to cut off the bird's leg, and walk to the village 

 dispensary to have it removed. 



Occasionally, When hunting, an Eagle swoops down and 

 strikes "not wisely but too well." That was so in the 

 well-known instance where a large pike was the victim. 

 The fish dived, pulling the bird under water, and eventually 

 drowning it. In several cases the feet have been found 

 still fixed in the fish's back, and once, at least, the skeleton 



1 A young hawk, newly fledged and fit for flight. 

 ^ His new wings to try. 



