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old Scotia, though once I remember being fortunate 

 enough to feast mine own eyes on the purple heather 

 of the land of Scott. Fond memory — that undying 

 memory of younger, of brighter days — brings to mind a 

 spectacle, nearly as grand, certainly as much prized, 

 witnessed many long years ago, when Murray Bay 

 was but a sparse, obscure seashore hamlet at its west 

 end, Qf a half dozen of puny, whitewashed cottages — 

 when the sturdy old steamer " Saguenay," then com- 

 manded by Capt. Bene Simard, landed weekly on the 

 beach (no wharf in those primitive days) a jolly squad 

 of tourists longing for the quiet elysium of Pointe-a- 

 Pic and Cap-a-1'Aile — alas ! so hackneyed in the pre- 

 sent time. I can recall one of those magnificent birds, 

 one sultry, hazy, July afternoon, in slow-measured, 

 " majestic gyrations, such as become the king of birds," 

 sweeping past nearly out of sight, over our pioneer 

 steamer, to the amazement of all beholders, winnowing 

 his circuitous, widespread course, under the distant, 

 leafy, blue and green "turban of the Laurentides." 

 straight towards Cape Tourment, where mayhap awaited 

 him his lofty eyrie, his hungry, callous brood. 



Eagles, the Golden and the Bald are rather abundant 

 all along the northern range of our lofty capes. My 

 intercourse with the Bird of Jove has been less on the 

 mountain-brow, where he appears at more advantage, 

 than in captivity, where he loses, if not his ferocity and 

 indomitable courage, at least much of that proud, 

 baronial spirit of other days. In 1864, a coasting craft, 

 wood-laden, brought to Quebec a pair of adult eagles, 

 the Golden Eagle ; they were in spring, in nuptial plu- 

 mage, of course very bright, not a feather plucked or, 

 ruffled, or displaced. I became their purchaser. They 

 had just been trapped at St. Urbain, near St. Paul's 

 Bay, county of Charlevoix, under a large wicker crate, 

 such as those used to import from Europe glass and 

 crockery ware. As follows, had been the mode of cap- 

 ture ; the crate was partially raised at one end, by a 



