THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 
95 
Ireland, where, notwith- 
standing its wild and 
apparently nntameahle 
character, one was taken 
even after it had attained 
maturity. It soon be- 
came domesticated, and 
firmly attached to the 
place, where it continued 
till it died, though per- 
fectly at liberty, it never 
having been chained, or 
put under any restraint. 
Its wings had, indeed, 
been cut when first 
brought thither, hut they 
were allowed to grow again ; and the noble bird, on recover- 
ing the use of them, would repeatedly soar away, and absent 
himself for a fortnight or three weeks. It became very much 
attached to those who were in the habit of feeding or caress- 
ing it. On its first arrival it had been placed in a garden, 
situated on a slope overhanging a lake ; a house or shed had 
also been built for its accommodation ; hut it generally pre- 
ferred a perch of its own finding out, in the branch of a large 
apple tree, which grew in nearly a horizontal position from 
the stem. Its food was chiefly crows, which were shot for it, 
sometimes, however, it attempted to procure them for itself, 
hut never successfully, as their agility in turning short and 
rapidly enabled them to elude its superior strength of wing ; 
latterly, therefore, it contented itself with eyeing them wist- 
fully as they flew or perched securely over its head. It was 
never suspected of committing any havoc among the sheep or 
lambs in the adjoining fields ; hut now and then, when from 
some accident it had not been regularly supplied with its ac- 
customed food, it would seize upon and kill young pigs. 
Children, who constantly met it as it walked about the gar- 
den, were never molested ; hut on one occasion it attacked its 
master with some violence, in consequence, as it was supposed, 
Golden Eagle. 
