A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 
(1793),’ he says, ‘been caught alive, and is 
now in the possession of Mr. Thomas Hutton 
of Keswick, which is unquestionably the Falko. 
chrysaétus, or golden eagle’ (History of Cum- 
berland, vol. i. p. 450). This statement is 
corroborated by the author of a tract entitled, 
‘ Observations, chiefly Lithological,’ in regard 
of an eagle which he found preserved in Hut- 
ton’s Museum in 1803: ‘ This Faso chrysattus 
was a very young eagle, which Hutton had 
bred; he said he used to feed it with rats, 
cats, etc. The bird killed them immediately, 
and then sucked their blood; this was the 
only drink he would ever take.’ 
113. White-tailed Eagle. Haliaétus albicilla 
(Linn.). 
Locally, Erne (obs.). 
A rare visitant. An immature bird was 
winged by a keeper named Gill in the neigh- 
bourhood of Alston in the autumn of 1834. 
Another was captured upon Black Combe by 
a shepherd in 1838. This bird lived for 
several years in the possession of the Lewth- 
waite family. A third was seen near Alston 
in the early part of 1844. The sea-eagle 
bred constantly near Keswick until the close 
of the eighteenth century, the last years of 
which witnessed its final and complete exter- 
mination. Eyries in Eskdale, in the vicinity 
of Buttermere (on a shelf of rock in the centre 
of a great mural precipice between High Crag 
and High Stile) and Langdale were occasion- 
ally occupied. Eaglets were sent from an 
Eskdale nest to Muncaster about 1790; a 
bird taken from the Buttermere eyry lived and 
died at Greystoke Castle. But the stronghold 
that was chiefly frequented lay in the preci- 
pices of Eagle Crag, a lofty cliff at the head 
of the valley of Stonethwaite. This was the 
eyry that chiefly tempted the bolder spirits in 
Borrowdale to hazard the safety of their limbs 
in harrying the young birds. The church- 
wardens of Crosthwaite parish paid sixpence 
(rarely, a shilling) for young eagles, and a 
shilling (rarely, two shillings) for old eagles. 
The entries of rewards for eagles in the parish 
book commence in 1713; the detailed ac- 
counts terminate in 1762. During this period 
of fifty years a good many seasons passed in 
which no claim was made upon the wardens 
for slaughtered eagles; but upwards of thirty 
eagles were paid for. Of these, ten are stated 
to have been old birds and fourteen young 
birds ; the age of the eagles for which four 
shillings were paid in 1759, has not been re- 
corded. Several additional eagles were paid 
for in 1763 and 1765, though we lack detailed 
particulars ; but, after this date, the shepherds 
seem to have found that it was more profit- 
able to take the young birds alive and sell 
them to strangers, than to kill them as pro- 
scribed vermin. The poet Gray records that 
a single eaglet and an addled egg were taken 
from the Borrowdale nest in 1768. Gilpin 
saw a young eaglet, nearly the size of a hen 
turkey, which had just been taken from Eagle 
Crag in Borrowdale ; this may have been the 
identical bird that was sent to Bishop Law 
from Borrowdale in 1774. At all events, if it 
was not that very bird, it came from the same 
eyry. W. Walker and W. Youdall were 
among those who robbed the birds in Eagle 
Crag about this date; the latter was possibly 
a relative of John Youdall, the carpenter, who 
killed a young eagle in 1763. The birds 
nested about 1784, in Wything’s Crag; other 
eyries were occasionally resorted to for single 
seasons. 
114. Goshawk. <Astur palumbarius (Linn.). 
A very rare visitant. An immature bird 
was shot near Edenhall while striking at a 
wood-pigeon. It was mounted by Mr. T. 
Hope, then residing at Penrith. ‘The late 
Mr. Tandy, of Penrith, informed me that he 
saw a goshawk on Penrith Beacon, and cer- 
tainly described the bird very accurately. In 
olden days the goshawk sometimes nested in 
the county. There was an eyry of goshawks 
in ‘Thomas’s Wood in Bastonswayt.’ 
115. Sparrow-Hawk. <Accipiter nisus (Linn.). 
A common resident in our woods, especi- 
ally in those which are not trapped. Males 
in perfect adult dress are much scarcer than 
females. The late Mr. Edward Tandy in the 
summer of 1888 found a sparrow-hawk nest- 
ing in a rabbit-hole; he took the eggs. A 
pretty pale cinnamon variety of this hawk was 
procured near Drumburgh by James Smith. 
It is now preserved in the Carlisle Museum. 
116. Kite. Wilvus ictinus, Savigny. 
Locally, Glede (0ds.). 
A rare visitant. The last kite actually 
killed in the county was shot near Carlisle on 
November 13th, 1856. But others have been 
seen, though not obtained, in more recent 
years. A kite was observed near Lorton in 
1873, and two kites were seen by the Rev. 
H. H. Slater in Patterdale, in the autumn of 
1880, another was seen near Renwick in 
1881. To my own profound astonishment, 
I had an excellent view of a kite which passed 
over Carlisle on September 11th, 1891. Ear- 
lier in the year, I had studied kites on the 
wing for days together, and my recollection 
of their appearance was particularly fresh. 
Earlier in the century, a few kites nested at 
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