THE EAGLE. 
99 
which may explain in some degree the cause of so unusual 
an attack. The brave little boy did not receive a scratch, 
though there can be little doubt that had the bird not been 
weakened by hunger, a blow or two from its sharp strong 
beak would have penetrated through the skull into the brain, 
and caused instant death. 
Eagles of this particular sort are very common in that 
part of the country, and are often known to carry off a 
Turkey, or even a Goose, but this was the first instance 
of their attacking children, though in New South Wales 
a celebrated navigator, Captain Elinders, met 'with some- 
thing of the same sort. He was walking with some of 
his officers when a large Eagle, with a fierce aspect and 
outspread wing, was seen bounding towards them ; but 
stopping short at about twenty yards off, he flew up into a 
tree. Soon after, another bird of the same kind discovered 
himself, and flying above their heads, made a sudden pounce 
downwards, but checked himself before he actually" touched 
them. Captain Elinders supposed that they took him and 
his party for kangaroos, which, when sitting up on their 
hind-legs, according to their usual habit, are about the 
height and form of a man. On these animals the Eagles 
were observed to feed, having been seen watching quietly in 
the trees till a kangaroo made its appearance, when down 
they flew, and tore it in pieces in an instant. Probably this 
was the truth ; for the country was very desolate, and, as far 
as they could judge, uninhabited, so that the Eagles might 
never have seen men before. 
The well-known crest of the Eagle and Child, borne by 
the Stanley family, is supposed to have been founded upon a 
tradition of one of their ancestors, when a child, having been 
carried off by an Eagle ; and a story is told in a very old 
book on English History, which, whether true or not in all 
its particulars, proves at least the prevailing belief, that 
Eagles occasionally flew away with children; indeed, there 
was an ancient Act of Parliament “ anent the slaying of the 
Erne,” that is, concerning the slaying of the Erne, the name 
of a particular species of Eagle, in which, on account of its 
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