Bird of Prey Dives For Rabbit. 
Hiram Chase of Macwahoc, Me., was 
running rabbits with his pet hound, 
Sport, the other day when he noticed a 
huge eagle loitering about the sky 
overhead. Now and then the bird 
would come almost within gunshot; 
then he would mount so far- into the 
blue that he looked little bigger than a 
robin. 
All this time Sport was running the 
most erratic rabbit that ever led a 
hound a chase. Instead of progressing 
in a circle he scooted back and forth 
at all kinds of angles until his trail 
was a study in geometry. Evidently 
the rabbit had something on his mind, 
and Chase rightly guessed that this 
was the eagle. 
It was nearly an hour before the hare 
{ dodged by within sight, and the hunter 
had an opportunity to fire at him. The 
brush was thick, and instead of killing 
, the little animal he broke one of his 
back legs. It is with these long legs 
- that Mr. Rabbit propels himself, and 
with one of them out of commission he 
was forced to decrease his speed. The 
hound took advantage of this, and at 
the end of another quarter of a mile 
j he grabbed the hare by the loose skin 
at the back of the neck. 
Sport was shaking the little fellow 
c in a way to make the fur fly when the 
eagle shot down like a plummet. Evi- 
' dently he intended to gobble up the 
rabbit. If he did he missed his calcu- 
lations, for he set his talons firmly into 
Sport’s hide. The next instant he rose 
with the howling and struggling dog 
hugging his tail between his legs. Up 
and down the pair see-sawed, while 
Chase rushed to the rescue, firing his 
gun as he ran. 
Getting directly under the bird and 
dog he let go both barrels, and down 
came Sport. Two shots hit the dog in 
| the head and some evidently perforated 
the eagle, for he shed a handful of 
feathers. One of Sport’s legs was 
sprained, but otherwise he was not 
badly off for his sudden rise and fall. 
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