THE EAGLE. 
120 
children, it does not appear that the Eagles were 
able to fly with them to any great distance ; hut in 
Ireland a large Eagle was seen to alight and take up 
a lamb, and carry it away in a straight direction 
towards the high range of the Morne mountains. 
The men who saw it, pursued, and kept it in view ; 
when at length, having in vain attempted to soar 
upwards to the summit of one of the highest moun- 
tains, it dropt its burden at the edge of a wood, 
quite unhurt. The distance it had flown was judged 
to be upwards of two miles. 
They frequently attack smaller animals, hut often 
suffer severely in consequence, from the struggles of 
the prisoners to escape, and several instances have 
occurred of their being killed by weasels and stoats, 
which they had incautiously pounced upon. One 
was related by the gamekeeper of a Scotch noble- 
man, who, when out on the moors, observed an 
Eagle rise from the ground with something it had 
seized as its prey. For a time, it flew away steadily, 
when suddenly it became evidently much agitated, 
and after irregularly fluttering for a short time, 
spired upwards in a straight line to a vast height, 
and then ceasing to flap its wings, fell headlong to 
the ground. Struck with so unaccountable an 
occurrence, the keeper made what haste he could to 
the spot, and found the Eagle quite dead, and a 
wounded stoat struggling by its side. On exa- 
mining the body of the Eagle he soon discovered the 
cause of its fall. The stoat, when in the air, had 
contrived, according to its usual custom in attacking 
rabbits, hares, rats, and other small animals, to open 
an artery or vein, and kept firm hold of the wound 
it had inflicted. 
