244 
The Golden Eagle. 
into the trees and presuniabl}^ gives the youngster his hard 
earned dinner. 
No birds seem fonder of stooping, for stooping's sake, tlian 
are Golden Eagles, and a pair may frequently be seen ringing 
high into space and then put in ten minutes or so stooping either 
at each other, or each on his own simply dropping with closed 
wings and then rising as abruptly as they descended. 
In captivit}', a Golden Eagle makes the most delightful 
pet it has ever been my lot to keep and the most interesting. 
The one I have with me now, was taken from the nest 
a full fledged eyass on the 20th of June, but did not attempt to 
use her wings till the 16th of July, when she managed to fly 
about ten yards down hill and came down all of a heap at the 
end. After that date, however, she was always flapping her 
wings and practising, and finally one day, with the help of a 
strong breeze, soared clean away and I did not find her till the 
following day. From now on she was always read\' for a sail up, 
but could not come down again, so I had to take that part of her 
education in hand, by placing her on a prominent stone some- 
where, and myself going down the hill with my lure — a stuffed 
lamb's skin, to which I have taught her to come — and calling 
her down. Of course, the first two or three days I called her 
down a gentle incline and a short distance, but by degrees, 
increased both the distance and the gradient. Several times she 
has missed the lure and me by yards and sat down on some tree 
near at hand and had another try from there, but practice makes 
perfect and now .she thinks nothing of dropping almost straight 
down with absolutely closed wings and rising in perfect style if I 
draw the lure away. I keep her perfectly loose to go where she likes 
and she frequently spends the night out somewhere, but always 
turns up, as soon as I go outside in the morning. On one 
occasion I thought I had seen the last of her as she had been 
away two days, and finally I saw her in the company of two wild 
ones, which I concluded were her parents, and she took no notice 
of me or my lure. However, I finally managed to get near 
enough to the trio to tickle up the parents with No. 6 shot, 
which sent them off faster than mine could follow, and .seeing 
them go off, she came back to me. 
