now EAGLES SECURE THEIR PREY 141 
of birch-trees, and immediately the stag got under 
cover the eagle could not keep its hold, owing to 
the thick branches of the trees, and left the stag. 
The eagle kept hovering for some time above the 
wood where the stag was concealed, but at last 
flew away." 
Whilst stalking in the neighbouring forest of 
Applecross two years ago, Colonel the Hon. 
Claude Willoughby had a most interesting experi- 
ence, a description of which he has kindly given 
me permission to reproduce here : 
" On 30th September, 1921," he writes, " I 
was stalking with Alick Mackenzie on Applecross. 
We had come through Corrie Chaorachan into 
Corrie Na Na and spied a stag with hinds on 
the west face above the loch. The wind was 
west, and after a difficult and exceedingly good 
stalk across the Corrie and above these deer, 
avoiding hinds, also another stag with hinds, 
we arrived at a point within 150 yards of the 
stag we were after and found him lying down. 
Owing to the light and the distance, I deter- 
mined to wait for him to rise before shooting. 
After waiting half an hour, hinds which we 
had seen beyond the place where he was lying 
came galloping past him. He rose and I shot 
