336 RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



the carcase of a mountain hare, was attacked by a 

 fox ; a fight ensued, and after a severe struggle, in 

 which the fox got badly torn by the eagle's talons, 

 and the bird got severely bitten in the breast ; the 

 eagle, to save itself, took flight, with the fox hold- 

 ing on, until, at a considerable height in the air, the 

 latter dropped to the ground and was killed by the 

 fall." Mr Robert Gray, the author of The Birds of 

 the West of Scotland, took pains to verify this 

 story. 



Mr Baillie Grohman, writing on chamois-stalking 

 in the Tyrol, and referring to the natural enemies 

 of the Chamois, says the full-grown eagles {Stein 

 adleror Golden Eagle) are of immense size, measur- 

 ing from 8 feet to 'i\ feet from tip to tip of their wings. 

 It is said that one of these birds will take up a 

 Chamois bodily and carry it off to its young, and in 

 support of this statement he quotes the following 

 extract from his diary : — 



"June 27, 1871. — When taking out a young 

 eagle from the Falknervaud, near Johanneslaus, 

 I found in the nest (which was quite inaccessible ex- 

 cept by means of a 50-fathom rope) the half-devoured 

 carcase of a full-grown chamois, three pairs of 7 in. 

 chamois' horns, and the corresponding bones of the 

 animals, one pair of goat horns, the remains of a 

 mountain hare, and the head of a roe-deer fawn." 



Mr A. O. Hume, writing of Pallas 's Sea Eagle, 

 says : — 



" A Grey Goose will weigh on the average 7 lb. 

 (much heavier are recorded), but I have repeatedly 

 seen good-sized grey geese carried off in the claws 



