CHAP, III,] DEATH OF AN EAGLE. 37 
distance of twenty yards. The small shot struck him severely, 
and, dropping his legs, he rose into theair, darting upwards nearly 
perpendicularly, a perfect cloud of feathers coming out of him. 
fie then came wheeling in a stupified manner back over our 
heads. We both of us fired together at him, and down he fell 
with one wing broken, and hit all over with our small shot. He 
struggled hard to keep up with the other wing, but could not do 
so, and came heavily to the ground within a yard of the edge of 
the precipice. He fell over on his back at first, and then rismg 
up on his feet, looked round with an air of reproachful defiance. 
The blood was dropping slowly out of his beak, when Donald 
foolishly ran to secure him, instead of leaving him to die where he 
was ; in consequence of his doing so, the eagle fluttered back a 
few steps, still, however, keeping his face to the foe. But, coming 
to the edge of the precipice, he fell backwards over it, and we saw 
him tumbling and 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 bottom, where we beheld him, after regaining bis 
feet for a short time, sink gradually to the ground. It was im- 
possible 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, notwithstanding 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 tha: 
inaccessible place. 
oe i eet oa re 
