BIRD-NESTING. 
69 
the tree were two feathers from a Bulbul’s tail. At his 
first plunge he had tried to catch the sitting bird, but, like 
Tam o’ Shanter’s mare, it escaped with the loss of its 
tail. Then he sat down to breakfast on the eggs, with an 
eagle’s beak for his spoon. It is no wonder that he could 
not eat them cleanly ; and, indeed, it is one of the 
strangest things I know in nature that a bird so armed 
and equipped should feed on eggs. But it was not to 
feed on eggs that he was so armed and equipped. I feel 
sure that the Black Eagle furnishes an example of very 
recent degeneracy. This is an intensely interesting 
subject, but too large a one to enter upon to-day. 
BEACK EAGBE. 
