198 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



cliffs of stupendous height.' Again : ' On these dreadful heights 

 the eagles build their nests.' 



Mr. Clifton Ward's paper on Jonathan Otley furnishes a note 

 about the Borrowdale Eagles, written, in 1852, by Mr. J. F. 

 Miller of Whitehaven : ' From J. Dixon I learn that the eagles' 

 nests in Eagle Crag were robbed by W. Walker and W. Youdale 

 in 1772 or 3, and after that they got out a brood in Wy thing's 

 Crag, above Stonethwaite, which was the last time they were 

 known to build, probably about 1784, as stated in your account.' 1 

 Mr. Ralph Douglas told the late Mr. Dickinson that he went to 

 live at Thornthwaite in 1783, at fifteen years of age. He 

 remembered seeing Eagles frequently, and almost daily in the 

 spring, sailing majestically overhead, and occasionally sweeping 

 down to the ground, as if seizing prey, and then flying off with 

 it towards Borrowdale, where they usually had nests. At that 

 time a long and strong rope was kept in Borrowdale, by sub- 

 scription, for the purpose of letting down men into the rocks to 

 take the nests or young of the Eagles. Very many of the inhabi- 

 tants used to assemble to hold the rope when a nest-robbing was 

 projected. On one occasion, when the man was drawn up, it 

 was with fear and trembling, till the man was safely landed with 

 the prize of young birds, for they discovered that two of the 

 three strands of the rope were chafed quite through by the 

 sharp edges of the rocks. The rope was available for Butter- 

 mere, Langdale, Eskdale, and other dales, but kept in Borrow- 

 dale, and was in requisition there in nearly every year, and 

 occasionally in other vales ; and the young Eagles were sold for 

 high prices. 2 An unsigned statement, written prior to 1803, 

 corroborates Dickinson : ' Among the most gigantic of the fells 

 that form the great out-line of this astonishing prospect are 

 Eagle-crag, Glaramara, Bull-crag, and Serjeant-crag. The first 

 is a tremendous rock at the head of Borrowdale to the east, 

 where the eagles have commonly made their habitation, and 

 their nests. The young eagles are occasionally caught by the 

 adventurous inhabitants of the vale, who, when standing under- 

 neath, observe the place where the nest is seated, and afterwards, 



1 Trans. Cumberland and Westmorland Assoc, No. ii. p. 140. 



2 Cumbriana, p. 168. 



