THE EAGLE* 
121 
Another such case occurred to a gentleman in 
America ; he, like the gamekeeper, saw an Eagle 
seize its prey and fly off, and soon afterwards rise 
spirally to an. immense height till nearly out of 
sight, and then fall to the earth like a stone. As he 
approached, he saw a weasel running away from 
the body, and on further examination found, that 
the little animal had got under the Eagle's wing and 
sucked the blood, until the bird fell from exhaustion. 
Another case is on record, of one of these birds 
attacking a cat, when a battle actually took place in 
the air, and lasted some minutes. The cat, aware, it 
may he supposed, of her danger, clung with her 
claws to the Eagle, and prevented him from letting 
her drop. At length, tired of struggling, and im- 
peded by the clinging of the cat, he descended to the 
earth, where the fight still continued ; and, in the 
end, some lookers on captured both the combatants. 
A cat, however, if once within the fair grasp of an 
Eagle on firm ground has but a poor chance. One, 
tempted probably by some pieces of raw meat, was 
seen to make its way through the lattice-work of a 
large hut in which a fine Golden Eagle had been 
long kept. In an instant, the bird was observed to 
pounce from his perch and seize poor puss, so rudely 
and suddenly with his claw, that, notwithstanding 
the vivacious nature of the cat species, she was 
killed in a moment, without an appearance of strug- 
gling, or even quivering of her limbs. The entire 
claw seemed to have been plunged in a moment into 
the tenderest part of her body. Having secured his 
victim beyond power of escape, he remounted his 
perch to pause and look about him, and then, again 
