HOW EAGLES SECURE THEIR PREY 137 
on the loch. It is very interesting to watch the 
great bird searching slowly along the side of a hill, 
about 50, 100, or 150 yards above the ground ; 
then he suddenly pounces, and in a moment is 
up again and away with his prey in his talons. 
So regularly does the eagle adopt this method of 
capturing his prey on the ground, that I have 
met stalkers who have told me that they do not 
believe that an eagle can overtake any swift- 
winged bird such as grouse or black game. This 
is certainly wrong, for the eagle does sometimes, 
though comparatively rarely, adopt the other 
method of securing his prey — the method which 
I have already described (see p. 64, supra) — that 
of pursuing and catching his prey in the air, and 
in this way without doubt captures blackcock, 
grouse, and ptarmigan. I have already stated 
(see pp. 57-70, supra) that in my opinion the 
eagle in his downward flight is faster than the 
peregrine. Even in his horizontal flight, once he 
gets going he can fly very fast if he chooses, but 
of course is not nearly so agile and cannot turn 
and twist with the rapidity of the peregrine, and 
the result is that when he overtakes his quarry he 
frequently misses him. 
Nearly a hundred years ago one of the most 
18 
