ORNITHOLOGICAL OBSERVATION IN ICELAND. 59 



lake, with the horses, had to be rowed across (an operation which 

 I watched), after which a partition was made of the baggage— on 

 principles somewhat more than equitable towards myself, but I 

 had to submit — and we laboured along with it, getting to the 

 place, again, about 7 p.m. We found the female Eagle in 

 possession of the eyrie, nor did she leave it during all the 

 time in which we were engaged in setting up the tent — which 

 perforce was nearer than I should have wished it to be — or in 

 getting moss round about to fix in the meshes of the netting 

 which I had brought to go over it. Shortly after 8, I was left 

 alone in the tent. 



8.15. — Bird off nest, and joins her partner in the air, as he 

 sails grandly up. The two float together, for a little, and there 

 comes from one, or both, the cry last referred to, which can 

 certainly be described as a squealing, or even squeaking one. 

 Then, after a few circles, one of the Eagles (I think the same 

 one) returns to the nest. The nest was empty for about eight 

 minutes. The returning Eagle, as it flew in, before commencing 

 the circling descent, with legs stretched down, which is such a 

 joy to witness, made a few flaps with the wings, and this is the 

 first time I can recall their being moved, at all, by either of the 

 birds. They have, till now, simply floated upon them, stretched 

 to the uttermost, the tips of all the primary quills being sepa- 

 rately visible against the sky (now blue and bright as that of 

 Africa — long may it keep so !), their outlines sharply drawn, and 

 not blurred, exactly as Darwin has remarked of the Condor of 

 South America. The shape of the wings, when thus outstretched, 

 is much that of the conventional Eagles on flags — e. g. those of 

 Germany, Eussia, and Austria. Indeed, there was a much 

 greater resemblance to these crude productions than to any 

 serious rendering I can recall, which makes me think that the 

 former may perhaps owe their origin to the keen eye and un- 

 erring hand of generations of Stone-Age ancestors who kept 

 seeing the beasts that they drew. Even the absolute black of 

 these bannered Eagles is not quite so extravagant as one might 

 think, for the real bird looks dark enough in the air. For 

 obliterative purposes, at any reasonable distance, he would need 

 a specially designed sky. Such a one as he floats in now could 

 only help the Blue Bird, or that splendid cerulean variety of the 



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