THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 113 
Family—FALCONIDA:. 
GOLDEN EAGLE. 
Aguila chrysactus, Linn. 
T the present day this fine Eagle, the Black Eagle of the Scotch Highlands, 
(as also of many other parts of the world), that makes its home in almost 
all the mountainous regions of the Old World and in some of the New, is only 
to be found as a resident in a few remote places in the Western Highlands, in 
the Outer Hebrides, especially the islands of Lewis and Harris, while one or two 
eyries may still be left in the west of Ireland. It was being rapidly exterminated 
by shepherds, game-preservers, and ‘collectors,’ included also, and paid for 
whenever slaughtered, in the proscribed list of vermin, until a few of the Scotch 
land-owners resolved to protect it, and on their estates it is said to be recovering its 
numbers. Two centuries ago the Golden Eagle was still nesting on Snowdon, in 
North Wales, and on the peaks of Derbyshire; and within the last hundred years 
there were eyries in the Lake District, and on the Cheviots. Howard Saunders 
was informed by Mr. R. Service that, across the Border, there were eyries up to 
1833 on the Moffat Hills, and for some years after 1850 in Ayrshire, Dumfries, 
and Galloway. In the Scotch Lowlands the Golden Eagle is now only known 
as a visitor in autumn. There are only a few instances of its occurrence in the 
southern counties of England, and some of these may refer to immature examples 
of the White-tailed Eagle which have been mistaken for it; yet the differences 
in the legs and feet of the two birds should prevent this confusion. 
In 1840, the year in which Professor William Macgillivray, the distinguished 
naturalist of Aberdeen, published his valuable account of the British Birds, the 
Golden Eagle was still fairly common in the Scotch Highlands, and one of the 
best accounts of its habits is to be read in his pages. What an admirable word- 
picture is the following, inspired by a Golden Eagle seen near the wild peaks of 
Lochnagar! ‘‘See how the sunshine brightens the yellow tint of his head and 
neck, until it shines almost like gold! There he stands nearly erect, with his 
tail depressed, his large wings half raised by his side, his neck stretched out, and 
his eye glistening as he glances around. Like other robbers of the desert he has 
a noble aspect, an imperative mien, a look of proud defiance; but his nobility has 
