114 
THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 
the cause of his emotion ; he had seen his mate ap- 
proaching. He rose to meet her, and after soaring 
in a circle a few times, they went away, and were soon 
invisible to the naked eye. 
This was the large Golden Eagle, a species occa- 
sionally found in England and Scotland, but more 
frequently in Ireland; where, notwithstanding its 
wild and apparently untameable character, one was 
taken even after it had attained maturity. It soon 
became 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, but they 
were allowed to grow again, and the noble bird, 
on recovering the use of them, would repeatedly 
soar away, and absent itself for a fortnight or three 
weeks. It became very much attached to those 
who were in the habit of feeding or caressing 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 ; 
but it generally preferred 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, but never successfully, as their agility, in 
turning short and rapidly, enabled them to elude its 
superior strength of wing; latterly, therefore, it con- 
tented itself with eyeing them wistfully as they flew 
or perched securely over its head. It was never sus- 
pected of committing any havoc among the sheep or 
