14 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
Of’ all animals the eagle flies highest, ancl on this account 
he was called by the ancients the bird of J ove. Of all birds, 
also, he has the quickest eye ; but his sense of smelling is far 
inferior to that of the vulture. He never pursues, therefore, 
but in sight: and when he has seized his prey, he stoops from 
his height, as if to examine its weight, always laying it on 
the ground before he carries it off. As his wing is very pow- 
erful, yet, as he has but little suppleness in the joints of the 
leg, he linds it difficult to rise when down ; however, if not 
instantly pursued, he finds no difficulty in carrying off 
geese .and cranes. He also carries away hares, lambs, and 
kids ; and often destroys fawns and calves, to drink their 
blood, and carries a part of their flesh to his retreat. In- 
fants themselves, when left unattended, have been destroyed 
by these rapacious creatures ; which probably gave rise to the 
fable of Ganymede’s being-snatched up by an eagle to heaven. 
An instance is recorded in Scotland of two children being 
carried off by eagles : but fortunately they received no hurt 
by the way ; and, the eagles being pursued, the children were 
restored unhurt out of the nests to the affrighted parents. 
The eagle is thus at all times a formidable neighbour ; 
but peculiarly so when bringing up its young. It is then 
that the female, as well as the male, exert all their force and 
industry to supply their young. Smith, in his History of 
Kerry, relates, that a poor man in that country got a com- 
fortable subsistence for his family, during a summer of 
famine, out of an eagle’s nest, by robbing the eaglets of 
food, which was plentifully supplied by the old ones. He 
protracted their assiduity beyond the usual time, by clip- 
ping the wings, and retarding the flight of the young. 
It happened some time ago, in the same country, that a 
peasant resolved to rob the nest of an eagle, that had built 
in a small island, in the beautiful lake of Killarney. He 
accordingly stripped and swam in upon the island, while 
the old ones were a way : and, robbing the nest of its young, 
he was preparing to swim back, with the eaglets tied in a 
string: but, while he was yet up to his chin in the water, 
the old eagles returned, and, missing their young, quickly 
fell upon tlie plunderer, and, in spite of all his resistance, 
dispatched him with their beaks and talons. 
In order to extirpate these pernicious birds, there is a 
law in the Orkney Islands, which entitles any person that 
kills an eagle to a hen out of every house in the parish in 
which the plunderer is killed. 
The nest of the eagle is usually built in the most inac- 
cessible cliff of the rock, and often shielded from the wea- 
ther by some jutting cragg that hangs over it. Sometimes, 
