EAGLE. 387 
three heath poults. The nest was about two yards 
square, and had no hollow in it.” 
Robbing the nest of an eagle is sometimes a dan- 
gerous employment. It is recorded, that a peasant 
in Ireland resolved to rob the nest of an eagle that 
had built in a small island in the beautiful lake of 
Killarney. He accordingly stripped, and, having 
reached the island while the old ones were away, 
robbed the nest of its young, and was preparing to 
swim back, with the eaglets tied in a string ; but, 
while he was yet up to his chin in the water, the 
old eagles returned, and, missing their young, quick- 
ly fell upon the plunderer, and in spite of all his 
resistance dispatched him with their beaks and 
talons. 
Although the general characteristics of the dif- 
ferent eagles are nearly the same, yet some of their 
habitudes are different. The sea eagle, for example, 
lives near the element from which he derives his 
name, and feeds chiefly upon fish, which he takes 
as they are swimming near the surface, by darting 
himself down on them. This bird frequents several 
parts of Great Britain, and was well known in Tur- 
ner’s time for the great destruction it made among 
the fish. It seems the fishermen were then fond 
of anointing their baits with the fat of this eagle, 
imagining that it had a peculiar alluring quality ; 
they were even superstitious enough to believe that 
whenever the sea eagle hovered over a piece of wa- 
ter, the fish, as if charmed, would rise to the sur- 
face with their bellies upwards. These birds are 
2 c 2 
