538 
BIRD-LIFE. 
birds, assemble and surround the king of air on all sides : 
with a hoarse croak for a signal, the Ravens make a dash 
at their proud and dangerous enemy, and do so with such 
gusto as to quite gladden one’s heart. They do not succeed 
in really inflicting any actual damage, yet they manage 
to make it abandon the field. It has been said that 
Crows have actually succeeded in vanquishing the royal 
bird. Not long ago I read the following account in the 
French zoological periodical, 4 Cosmos : ’—“ A Golden 
Eagle appeared in the woods in the neighbourhood of 
the castle of ‘Etangs,’ and commenced a raid upon the 
hares, rabbits, and Partridges. One fine morning it was 
suddenly assailed by a flock of about five hundred Crows,* 
who had come to revenge the murder of their friends. 
The leaders of the pack distributed their blows of beak 
and wing right and left; two or three were wounded, and 
remained on the battle-field. Three hours afterwards 
another cloud of Crows appeared on the scene, numbering 
some thousands, and attacked the Eagle de novo. It resisted 
like a hero: first lost feathers, and then blood. Night 
separated the combatants. The next day, however, the 
battle was renewed : the Eagle’s assailants divided them¬ 
selves into five separate masses, which, attacking their 
adversary from all quarters, then separated, and worried 
him on every side, leaving him no peace for miles and 
miles. At last, however, he became so dead beat that 
they managed to kill him; and then the whole army 
dispersed.” It is necessary to have been eye-witness of 
the rage and perseverance of these Crows, not to regard 
the result as an impossibility. With the exception of 
such enemies as the above, the Eagle has none other 
than lice and similar parasites. 
* Rooks (?).— W. J. 
