The Natural History of Ireland/Volume 1/The Sea Eagle

by William Thompson

[Note 2012 The White-tailed Eagle is being reintroduced to Ireland . Extinct in Ireland in the 1900s due to persecution from landowners.The last pair bred on the coast of Mayo (Maigh Eo) in 1912]

THE SEA EAGLE. White-tailed Eagle.

Haliaetos albicilla, Briss. (sp.) Falco ossifragus, Linn.

Is found in suitable localities throughout Ireland, and is resident.

Distribution, Eyries, Habits, &c. The first Sea Eagle I had the satisfaction of seeing in Ireland, was on the 25th June, 1832, when visiting the majestic promontory of Horn Head (Donegal), which rises precipitously from the ocean to an elevation of nearly 600 feet. On looking over the cliff on the eastern side, one of these birds rose from a platform of rock about sixty yards distant. Immediately afterwards, on reaching the northern side, I perceived another sitting on her nest, about a fourth of the way from the summit of the precipice; when she flew off, two eggs, greenish-white in colour, like those of the swan, (Cygnus olor), were exposed to view. Very near to this was another nest at a similar distance from the top, but it was untenanted, and from its proximity to the other, I should rather suppose that both had belonged to the same pair of eagles in different years, than that they were occupied by two pair at the same time. Less than a furlong distant to the eastward of the Head, there was a nest similarly situated, and containing two eaglets. To obtain these, we engaged a man accustomed to the apparently hazardous exploit of descending precipices. A rope being attached to his body for safety, and a basket to his back for the reception of the eaglets, he was lowered to the nest, from which he brought up the birds without injury either to himself or them. The parents were most vociferous during the robbing of their eyrie, taking hurried flights, evidently in despair, towards the nest, but did not attack, nor even closely approach the plunderer, nor did they come within fair gun-shot of the rock. The eaglets were almost entirely feathered. The first layer of this nest, as well as that of the other two, was composed of strong stems of heather ; being unable by looking over the rock to see the lining, I had it brought up, and found it to be the tender twigs of heath, and plants of Luzula sylvatica, both of which grow on the summit of the cliff. About the nest, there were many legs of rabbits, and the remains of puffins (Mormon fratercula, Temin.) On the following day I saw five sea eagles in mature plumage Footnote 1 all that were then said to be at " the Horn." The bird which we raised from the nest containing eggs, was thought by the gamekeeper to have no partner, as he had killed a male bird a few weeks before. I gazed for a long time at three of these eagles, both when they were at rest and on wing ; at first through a telescope, but as they permitted a much nearer approach than was anticipated, I had afterwards an excellent and near view of them. The head and neck in every position appeared almost as white as the tail, Footnote 2 and was so distinguished from a great distance, more especially when thrown into relief by a dark rocky back-ground. One of these birds was pursued by several gulls (Larus camis?) and kestrels, which kept closely flying after, and sometimes even apparently striking him. A gull certainly once did so, but the eagle, " towering in his pride of place," did not deign even momentarily to notice any of his puny assailants.

Here to the present time these noble birds probably still maintain their ground. I learn from scientific friends Footnote 3 who visited Horn Head on the 4th of August, 1845, that from one point of view they saw five eagles, three old (as denoted by their white tails) soaring above, and two young (as was supposed from their darker plumage) flying along the face of the cliffs. At Tory Island, off this coast, the same party saw two sea eagles a few days afterwards, and were told that a pair, but never more, has always an eyrie there.

Under the Golden Eagle, it has been mentioned, that of the number thirteen or fourteen eagles killed at the Horn within four years Footnote 4 all but one individual were the Haliaetos albicilla.

I was informed by a gentleman resident at Dunfanaghy, the village nearest to Horn Head, that in winter the sea eagle is comparatively numerous, and that he has sometimes seen as many as six or seven in company on the strand." Footnote 5 They are supposed to be attracted hither at this season by rabbits, which greatly abound at the Horn. In an article by John Vandeleur Stewart, Esq., on the Birds, &c, of Donegal, which appeared in the Magazine of Natural History for 1832 (p. 578), the golden eagle is mentioned as resident and rare ; the sea eagle as resident and common. The author states that he had received three specimens of the latter for his museum in ddition to five living eaglets, and fully describes the various stages of plumage the species undergoes. Mr. W. Sinclaire had a splendid bird of this species from the same locality. It likewise frequents Malin Head, the extreme northern point of Ireland. At Burt, also, in the county of Donegal, this species is said to be seen every year about the month of May. In the county of Antrim, the sea eagle has an eyrie at Fairhead, the most lofty and sublime of the basaltic promontories of the north-east coast. When visiting this place on the 16th of July, 1839, (accompanied by Mr. Selby and the Rev. E. Bigge,) a pair of these birds appeared soaring about the headland. An intelligent man, long resident in the neighbourhood, since stated, that they build annually, very early in the season, on the same platform of rock, and the number of young was always two, except in one year, when to the surprise of the people living in the vicinity, four eaglets made their appearance. These were all about the same size, and appeared in company with the two old birds. The man was questioned particularly respecting this circumstance, as no instance of the kind is perhaps on record ; and although he could not say that the four young were actually seen in the nest, yet at the usual time of eaglets appearing on wing with their parents, four young birds unquestionably bore them company. A pair only frequent Fairhead, except in autumn, when the young are still there. In the Island of Bathlin, the sea eagle is said to have an eyrie. This species, as well as the golden eagle, has been taken in Glenarm Park ; and, on the 6th of September, 1837, two were seen in company on Galbally mountain, near the Garron Point. An adult bird was shot in the winter of 1842-43? at Larne Lough, under the following circumstances : — A wildfowl shooter was lying in ambush on the shore, in the hope that the flowing tide would bring some wigeon within range, when the eagle appeared overhead, intent, as he imagined, on his ' ' game." The royal bird floating in the air looked down upon the swimming wild-fowl, expanded the claws of one of its feet, then clasped them together, — an act, perhaps, even more suggestive to the shooter of the bird's intent, than was the air-drawn dagger to Macbeth ; and, before it could again clutch the air, the " charge" intended for the wigeon brought it to the ground. One pities the majestic bird falling a sacrifice under such circustances, and wishes that the slayer had been imbued with the feeling of "William Tell, as exemplified in the following passage : —

" Scaling yonder peak, I saw an eagle wheeling near its brow,

O'er the abyss : his broad expanded wings

Lay calm and motionless upon the air,

As if he floated there without their aid,

By the sole act of his unlorded will,

That buoyed him proudly up. Instinctively

I bent my how ; yet kept he rounding still

His airy circle, as in the delight

Of measuring the ample range beneath ;

And round about absorb'd, he heeded not

The death that threaten'd him. I coidd not shoot !

'Twas liberty ! — I turned my bow aside,

And let him soar away !"

J. Sheridan Knowles, William Tell. Act 1, Scene 2.

In the Belfast mountains, far remote from any of its habitations, I was once, (October 2, 1832,) gratified by the sight of an eagle, which was soaring, attended first by one kestrel, and afterwards by two of these birds. The snowy whiteness of the tail proved it to be adult ; it remained in view for about a quarter of an hour, then disappeared in the direction of the Cavehill. The last I have heard of being taken near Belfast, was trapped in the Deer Park, about thirty years ago.

Late in the autumn of 1844, two eagles were observed flying over Ballydrain, a few miles from Belfast, by the same person who supplied the information respecting the Fairhead birds. When asked, was he sure of their having been eagles, the reply was : — " Do you think I don't known the yelp of them ; " and truly, their barking or yelping cry is most peculiar.

When in August, 1836, at Sleive Donard Footnote 6 the chief of the Mourne mountains, in the county of Down, a cliff situated quite inland, was pointed out as the " Eagle's rock ; " — so named in consequence of having been at one period the eyrie of this bird. Our guide informed us, that eagles had not bred there of late years (their place being supplied by ravens), but that they annually build at less frequented places among the range of mountains. Here they are frequently met with by Lord Roden's gamekeeper, but are seldom seen so low down as Tollymore Park, where one only had been taken within the preceding nine years Footnote 7 A well-known collector of objects of Natural History, who has spent much time among the mountains of Mourne, Footnote 8 stated in 1831, that he had at various periods seen three or four pairs of eagles there, and once visited a nest in an inland situation, containing two eggs. These birds were accused of committing great devastation, " killing a sheep every week" and very often sweeping down and bearing off a goose from the farm-yard. One of the finest sea eagles which has come under my own observation, was shot in that neighbourhood, (near Dundrum,) on the 13th of January, 1845, when in the act of pursuing the fowls in a farmer's yard. This bird was preserved for the late Marquis of Downshire, who kindly supplied me with all the information respecting it. " It weighed 10| lbs., measured three feet from the point of the beak to the end of the tail, and seven feet four inches from tip to tip of the wings."

When in June, 1834, at Achil Head (Mayo), which is fondly, but erroneously, believed by the inhabitants of the island, to approximate the shores of the western world more nearly than any other European land, and stretching out afar into the Atlantic, is rendered sublime, less from altitude than from the utter barrenness of its desolate and inaccessible cliffs, a suitable accompaniment to the scene appeared in a sea eagle, which rose startled from her nest on the ledge of an adjoining precipice. Mr. R. Ball, my companion on the occasion, thus referred to this eagle in a lecture delivered before the Zoological Society, in Dublin : — "One of the most striking and valuable results of practical ornithology, is the extraordinary manner in which the scenery where a bird is first observed becomes impressed on the memory. I can see in my mind's eye the whole scene, when peering over a precipice at Achil Head, a sea eagle started from the rocks below, and ascended in spirals to a great height above Saddle Head, which towered over us. It was sunset of a summer evening. We were weary, hungry, foiled in the object which led us to the Head, and many miles from the place where we were to get food and rest. Yet the sight of this bird in its native wilds at once refreshed us, and I at least felt inspirited and repaid for a day of great fatigue. I could then enjoy the beauty of the scene, the boldness of the rocks, the vastness of the great western ocean, dashing its waves in broken foam from the American coasts. The scathed majestic Saddle Head, the setting sun, the wild grandeur of the whole struck upon me, and I bent my course back with a feeling of gratification, that, but for the occurrence of the eagle, would have been one of having made a profitless excursion."

Two of these birds (adults) were seen by us the next day,soaring above a lake in the island, and we were informed by Lieutenant Reynolds Footnote 9 that four pair of sea eagles breed in Achil. With respect to their being in so wild a district comparatively fearless of man, it may be stated, that the gentleman just named when once shooting there, had, with his first barrel brought down a grouse, which an eagle stooped to carry off, and when just in the act of seizing, was itself shot by the second barrel. Such a proceeding, however, was more like that of a golden eagle, than of the species now under consideration. Lieut. Reynolds assured me, that in Achil he once saw a pair of old sea eagles attack and kill a young bird of their own species, which they eat, leaving only the bill and legs. Footnote 10

Although we associate the sublime in scenery with the eagle, yet where these birds are of frequent occurrence, as at Achil, they are occasionally found in connection with the next step to the sublime, — the ridiculous ; an example of which we have in one being shot by a man from his bed, as it was feeding on a dead pig.

We were assured by Serjeant Croker, of the Constabulary, that about six months before we visited Ballycroy, an eagle, when distant a few yards only from him and several persons, carried off a hen from that village. He was informed that a similar occurrence had several times taken place. True, we were long before told this, and much more, respecting the eagles of the district, in the Wild Sports of the West (letter 19); but I was not aware whether the author intended his admirably graphic narrative, — almost " too good to be true," — to be understood as literally correct. It is there remarked, that " the eagle in the gray of morning sweeps through the cabins, and never fails in carrying off some prey;" Footnote 11 that " to black fowls, eagles appear particularly attached ; and the villagers (of Dugurth) avoid as much as possible rearing birds of that colour " (p. 107). This partiality, if such there really be, is probably owing to the black fowls being the most readily seen by the eagle, both from a distance and when with all his fears upon him, — for well he knows the evil of such ways, — he makes a sudden stoop to the poultry about the cabin-door.

Mr. M'Calla, writing from Roundstone, Connemara (Galway), in 1841, supplied me with the following information in substance respecting this species.It is common throughout that district ; has its eyrie in cliffs rising from the sea ; in trees growing on the small islands of inland lakes, and in once instance built on a green islet without any trees. Footnote 12 A pair has bred for a number of years on the marine island of Boffin, and from the nest being inaccessible, a brood of eaglets has been annually reared ; these have always left the island so soon as able to wing their way elsewhere. The inhabitants of the island believe, that the pair of old birds which frequent it, not only guard, and abstain from injuring their fowl, but that they will not suffer other birds of prey to molest them.Footnote 13 The people of Connemara generally, indeed, believe that the eagle never takes away any fowl from about the houses in the vicinity of its nest. My informant has seen a sea eagle lift a duck from near the door of a house, at a distance from its eyrie, and bear it away, but being pursued by a number of gray crows (Corvus comix), it dropped the prey, which was still alive, though much torn by its talons. This species of crow, which is abundant in the district, is said to be the " inveterate enemy of the eagle," and to gather from all quarters to harass and attack it, so soon as the royal bird comes in sight. The writer has visited fourteen eagles' nests, and robbed several of the eggs, which were never more than two in number. A few years ago it was considered a dangerous undertaking to rob an eyrie, and persons went armed with guns to protect the aggressor, but my informant has never himself been assailed, nor known men to be attacked Footnote 14 by the parent birds. They appear to breed for a number of years in the same nest, renewing it every season. One built in a yew tree, growing upon an island of the lake on the western side of Urrisbeg mountain, was, with the accumulated materials of the nest of the preceding years, nine feet in diameter. The portion in which the eggs were deposited, was lined with wool, the fur of the hare, &c.

On the 15th Feb., 1847, Mr. R . Ball received from the county of Carlow, where it was shot, the finest sea eagle he had ever seen, the weight of which was 131bs. He remarked : — "We have one eagle of the same character in the Zoological Garden. I would almost call it a species, if A. albicilla did not vary so much. The size is much greater than ordinary, and the bearing more lofty ; besides, our living specimen, though young when we got it, assumed the mastery over a number of others, and has kept it ever since.Footnote 15 It cannot be that this is merely the female, or else in about thirty living sea eagles which we have had, we never had any but this one. There is a good deal of white on the back, and the breast is strongly and very beautifully spotted with that colour."

The species is said to breed at Lugnaquilla, the loftiest of the Wicklow mountains ; and there is an eyrie at Moher cliffs, county of Clare.Footnote 16 It has occasionally been met with about Youghal, and has several eyries in the county of Cork; in June, 1837, one was seen on Knockmeledown mountain, county of Waterford.Footnote 17 It frequents the Saltees, off the Wexford coast, and the burrow of Ballyteigue, both being places plentifully stocked with rabbits Footnote 18 The lofty marine cliffs, noble mountains, and grand rocky islets of Kerry, are favourite abodes of this eagle It may, therefore, have been this species, and not the golden eagle, which was seen (as noticed under that bird) by some of our party and others at Mangerton. The lofty and admirably picturesque cliff between the Upper and Lower Lake of Killarney, called the ' ( Eagle's Nest," bears that name in consequence of its containing an eyrie either of this species or of the golden eagle : — to each it would be equally suited. Montagu, apparently without positive information, speaks of the sea eagle as breeding there annually.

Eagles visiting Lough Berg to prey on dead fish. — I have been informed by Mr. Wm. Todhunter, formerly resident at Portumna, on the banks of Lough Derg (Galway), that about the 20th of June, 1835, three eagles visited the shores of that lake, attracted apparently by immense quantities of perch, which, with some trout and pike, ascended in a sick state to the surface of the water, and died there. These eagles admitted of a near approach, and were not disturbed by a steam-boat passing twice in the day within a hundred yards of them : they remained for about three weeks. Early in the month of July, in 1836 and 1837, when the fish likewise died in numbers, two eagles visited the place, and continued a similar time. In 1838, but few fish died, and the eagles, wihch made their appearance about the end of July, stayed but for a short period. My informant attributed the fatality of the fish to the " hot weather," stating that where they died, the water was but from one to three feet in depth, and consequently would be much acted on by heat. The lake generally is shallow, its average depth being about eight feet, and there is no apparent current through it Footnote 19

Eagles obtained by simple means. — Montagu relates an instance of a sea eagle being so much wounded by a charge of snipe-shot, as, after flying some distance, to fall and be captured. I have seen one in captivity, which was similarly obtained at the Horn, by Mr. John Sims of Dunfanaghy, near to whom it rose as he was returning from snipe-shooting. But, by still simpler means, an eagle was captured in the county of Tyrone, at the end of December, 1837, when a man on turning suddenly round a rock, came close upon one, and attacking it on the instant with his walking-stick, so disabled the bird as to bear it off in triumph.

Habits in captivity. Kinds of food preferred, &c.

— The Rev. Thomas Knox of Toomavara, (Tipperary), remarked in a letter dated November 22, 1837, with reference to two young sea eagles, birds of that year, which he had in captivity, that he attributed their clean healthy state in a great measure to " having placed in their cage, which is very large, a tank of water in which they have full room to wash themselves. They seldom miss a day without doing so, and the time preferred is immediately after eating : even in cold weather, they seem to enjoy the ablution." Footnote 20 Their food is varied as much as possible ; raw beef, liver, eels now and then, rooks, small birds, and all the dead rats that can be got ; the last are preferred to anything else. They sometimes swallow small 

birds whole, and the feathers are afterwards ejected in castings about the size of a hen's egg; but when not very hungry, they pluck the feathers off. When young, one of them would occasionally get out between the bars of the cage, and take a flight about the place ; on its being confined again, the bird that remained behind chastised the transgressor, which, as an additional mark of disfavour, was not permitted to occupy the same perch with it for the remainder of that day, [in fact, was "put in the corner"] The quantity they eat daily was very small compared with what was required by a kestrel kept during the preceding summer : this bird was very ravenous, and when satisfied, would hide the remainder of the food given to it, in a very cunning manner."

The two sea eagles taken from the nest at ' ' the Horn," were trained so far by Mr. Rd. Langtry, that they allowed him to carry them on his arm. When given liberty in the morning, they kept about the demesne during the day, generally attended his call to the lure in the evening, when they were put up for the night, throughout winch, however, they were ccasionally at large'. As food, they preferred rats to fish.Footnote 21 When not very hungry, they, after tasting the blackbird {Tardus merula), showed a dislike to it, but that this did not arise from colour, was evident from black chickens being always as acceptable as others ; gray crows {Corvus cornier) were also disliked, though magpies (Corvus pica) were favourite food.Footnote 22 On one occasion during rainy weather, they refused to eat for a few days, though at the same time they never retired to the shelter of their sheds, as buzzards {Buteo vulgaris) and peregrine falcons {Falco peregrinus) did, which were kept along with them. One of these eagles, (a male,) killed four pet birds, his constant companions in the same enclosure : — these were a white owl, a kite, a buzzard, and a peregrine falcon, that when he was tied, Footnote 23 either alighted near him, or were carelessly fastened within his reach. The first intimation my friend had of the owl's death, was its legs (all else had been devoured) lying beside the post, where a few hours before he had seen their owner alive and well. The eagle had partly plucked the falcon preparatory to eating it, just as his master appeared in view, when he instantly sprang from the body of his victim, and further evinced the consciousness of his misdeed by allowing it to be carried off, though any food given in the ordinary manner, he would not permit to be removed.

These eagles occasionally broke loose, and flew about the place, but eventually, after having made several circuits in the air, they would alight near the pond at which they were kept, and allow their master to lay hold of, and place them again in captivity. After one of these birds had been kept about two, and the other four and a half years, they were lost by flying to a distance, where they were shot. The latter exhibited the white tail which denotes maturity, early in October, 1836, being then four years and a half old : it proved a male bird on dissection, and weighed 11 lbs.

A few words may be given on eagles, as observed in Scotland and England. My friend, the owner of the birds just noticed, informed me, after returning from the very extensive and moun- tainous shooting quarters of Aberarder and Dunmaglass, in the north of Inverness-shire, in 1838, that during his three months' stay there, no eagles were seen. But on the 28th of September, when a few miles distant from that locality, he observed four old birds in company (all displaying white tails), soaring above a mountain northward of Loch Ness. In the autumn of the following year, this species was first seen by him at Aberarder, and when there myself during the month of September, 1842, I saw one on wing near the house ; its tail was conspicuously white, as was that of the other individual. It is singular that all these birds should have been adult, for at the time of their occurrence, the young birds of the year are leaving the eyries and " regions round about" to the sway of their respective parents. Old birds seem also to be given to wandering at this period of the year.

The following note, together with that on the Bald Eagle, was contributed by me to Charlesworth's Magazine of Natural History in 1838 (vol. 2, p. 164).

Golden and Sea Eagle, Aquila Chrysaetos and A. albicilla. — In the more recent works on British ornithology, there is not any notice of eyries, either of the golden or sea eagle, in England at the present time ; but, from my having seen two birds of one or other of these species, (though not sufficiently near to be specifically determined,) on the 13th of July, 1835, about the English lakes, they most probably breed in that quarter. One appeared near the eastern extremity of the vale of Newlands, not far from Keswick, and the other at Crummock Water. Willoughby states that there was an eyrie of the sea eagle in Whinfield Park, West- moreland; and Latham, on the authority of Dr. Heysham, remarks that the same species bred near Keswick. When visiting all of the lakes of Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire, except Lowes-Water, Ennerdale, and Wast-water, in the month of July, 1835, I saw eagles on the one day only.*

• Footnote 1 Excepting eaglets, the gamekeeper had never seen any but white-tailed, or adult,

eagles here at this season. Mr. J. V. Stewart, however, with reference to this part of the country, remarks : — " In spring I have seen the white-tailed eagle apparently paired with Ossifragus (the adult with the immature bird), and I have reason to believe that they breed together." He adds : — " The males at this season are very assiduous in their attention to the females, and very pugnacious in their rivalry. Some time ago, two of them near this fought so furiously for a female, who remained soaring above, that having in the contest fixed their talons firmly into each other's breasts, they dropped to the ground, and there continued the struggle so fiercely, that a peasant passing by, was enabled to despatch them both with a stick." — Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. v. p. 580, 1832. I have been informed of another instance (which happened in 1836 ?) of two eagles, that after fighting for some time in the air, fell to the ground, in a garden near Newtowncunningham in the same county, and were secured. If gallantry be really the cause of such combats, birds about to pair for the first time are probably the disputants, as from the circumstance of a pair frequenting a particular locality, not only in the breeding season, but throughout the year, it would seem that the species is monogamous, or pairs for life.

• Footnote 2 The colour of the head and neck in preserved specimens of adult birds, (having

the tail pure white,) examined by me, have presented considerable difference in this respect, and, though none had this portion of plumage altogether white, yet some were marked so faintly with very pale ash-grey, as to exhibit the appearance of soiled white, which, contrasted with the dark hue of the back and wings, gives from a dis- tance the appearance above described.

• Footnote 3 Mr. Edmund Getty, Mr. Geo. C. Hyndman, and Mr. John Grattan, three of the

most valuable members of the Scientific and Literary Institutions of Belfast.

• Footnote 4 The reward alone could hardly have prompted the destruction of this number, —

one shilling a head only being given by the proprietor of the Horn for them.

• Footnote 5 Temminck remarks that this species is common in winter on the shores of

Denmark. Man. d'Orn. de l'Eur. part 3, p. 27.

• Footnote 6 Montagu obtained two sea eagles from this mountain, which, although 2,796 feet

in height, he terms " a mountainous precipice, or craggy cliif impending the sea." These birds " were, on their arrival at Bristol, detained by an officer of excise, upon the plea that there was a duty upon all singing birds ! " — Ornithological Bid. and Supp. The individual from which Pennant drew up his description was taken in Galway.

• Footnote 7 Ten years afterwards, in May, 1846, the same keeper reported to me, that he

" feared " (he then wanted eggs) there was but one eagle about the mountains of Mourne, where it is often seen at a particular rock.

• Footnote 8 Mr. Patrick Doran.

• Footnote 9 This gentleman mentioned that an eagle had for some years frequented the

uninhabited Bills Rock, which rises above the ocean at the distance of several miles from Achil. To the fishermen visiting the place, this bird was known by the name of Old Brown, in consequence of a belief that a well-known person so called, who had committed some heinous sin, had been changed into the eagle, and doomed to the penance of living on the wild and savage rock. The idea of but one bird being there, probably arose from the circumstance of the rock being but rarely visited, and one individual only seen at such times. A correspondent mentioned in 1841, that a pair of sea eagles inhabited the islet, and from their remarkable light colour, he imagined them to be very old birds.

• Footnote 10 A portion of the following matter communicated by my late friend, Geo. Matthews,

Esq., although relating to another country, bears on some of the preceding points : — " We saw a number of eagles along the coast of Norway, from Trondjeim to the Alten Fiord, in the summei', autumn, and winter of 1843, especially the osprey or sea eagle. Some were shot. They were watchful, and difficult to get at. They eat car- rion : — even the carcass of one of their own species, which we threw overboard, after being skinned, was eaten by them. Sometimes we looked out for eagles hovering over a mountain side, and on going there with our dogs, were sure to find game. We thought them cowardly, as several times we have seen a falcon attack and hunt them well. The falcons would not leave the mountain, notwithstanding our firing, if once they saw grouse on the wing, and several were shot in consequence of their following the same pack of grouse as we did. The eagles always went off on the first fire." The difference between the actions related by Lieut. Reynolds and Mr. Matthews, may, as it seems to me, (taking it for granted that the same species is alluded to,) fairly be attributed to the different circumstances of the localities, and to the indivi- dual character of the birds.

• Footnote 11 Dr. Laurence Edmonston in a communication to Macgillivray's Hist, of Brit.

Birds (vol. 3, p. 231), on the sea eagle in Shetland, makes a precisely similar state- ment.

• Footnote 12 Mr. Macgillivray, in the third volume of his History of British Birds, gives a

very full and interesting account of this species from personal ohservation, and men- tions, that "on a flat islet in a small lake in Harris, one of the Hebrides, a pair of these birds bred for many years, although there are lofty crags in the neighbourhood."

• Footnote 13 This idea may not 'be wholly imaginary. The party already mentioned as visiting

Horn Head, &c., in 1845, saw, at Dunfanaghy, a singularly docile pet bird of this species, which had been taken as a nestling the year before in that vicinity. This bird had its liberty in a yard within the village, where it generally remained, but took occasional flights to the opposite side of the bay. It did not molest any of the fowls kept in the same yard, but immediately attacked any strange fowls that made their appearance. It may be added, that this eagle not only permitted, but took pleasure in having its plumage smoothed down by the hand of its owner.

• Footnote 14 Mr. Macgillivray remarks, that, although under such circumstances, they seldom

attempt to molest their enemy, he was told of their having twice done so in the island of Lewis (p. 227). The golden eagle, he observes, is bolder than the sea eagle, and has been known to attack the robbers of its eyrie : two instances are briefly given at p. 213. An article in the Quarterly Review for December, 1845, on Scrope's Days and Nights of Salmon-fishing, contains an excellent account of the habits &c, of the golden eagle. The attack of one of these birds on a boy about to rob an eyrie in Sutherlandshire is authentically given, ^and the adventurer named, who went single-handed to the task. The eagle fixed one talon in his shoulder, and the other in his cheek, but with the aid of his knife, he destroyed the bird, after a very severe combat. In the Wild Sports of the West, p. 107, a graphic account of two eagles — sea eagles, if the locality be correctly described — attacking a person lowered by a rope to their nest, is given as " well authenticated."

• Footnote 15 This bird is noticed under Golden Eagle, p. 12.

• Footnote 16 Ball

• Footnote 17 Davis

• Footnote 18 Poole.

• Footnote 19 This fatality was probably owing to an extraordinary diminution of the propor-

tion of oxygen in the water of the lake. MM. Aug. and Ch. Morren, in their most interesting " Recherches sur la Rubefaction des Eaux et leur Oxygenation par les Ani- malcules et les Algues," state, to quote the words used in noticing their memoir in the Annals of Natural History, vol. xii. p. 207, that " At times they have found the pro- portion (of oxygen) so low as 18, 19, or 20 per cent., and the consequence has been the destruction of the greater part of the fish by asphyxia. On the 18th of June, 1835, (the very time when the fatality was greatest in Lough Derg,) the greater part of the fish in the Maine perished from this cause ; and the same circumstance was ob- served twice in the pond, which first directed the attention of the authors to the subject of the memoir."

• Footnote 20 The partiality of eagles for the bath is also mentioned under " Golden Eagle,"

p. 12

• Footnote 21 Fish, however, are in no little request with sea eagles. A correspondent has

known a young bird to eat twenty gurnards (Trigla gurnardus) in a day. An eagle obtained in the Highlands of Scotland by Major Matthews (of Springvale, co. Down), and taken about with his regiment, had the audacity to drive away one of the soldier's wives engaged in washing a dozen of herrings in the river near Fort George, and made a meal of them all.

• Footnote 22 The peregrine falcon also shows distaste and partiality to birds nearly allied ;

thus the blackbird and ring-ouzel (Turdus torquatus) are disliked, while the song thrush (21 ?nusicus) is much relished, and, though it will kill and eat the landrail {Crejc pratensis) and wagtails {Motacilla Yarrellii) when huugry, it is averse to them, and has in some instances been observed to eject them front the stomach. My friend, the Baron De Selys Longchamps, a very distinguished naturalist, has remarked to me with reference to Belgium, where these birds are much used at table, that the song thrush is excellent eating, and the redwing (T. iliacus) is also good ; but that the fieldfare {T. pilaris) is not so, and the blackbird is decidedly bad : — the falcons, the eagles, and the Baron, are therefore all of the same opinion. According to M. Duval-Jouve, blackbirds fatten and acquire an excellent flavour from feeding on the fruit of the myrtle, in Provence. (Zoologist, Oct. 1845, p. 1119.) In the north of Ireland, indeed, these birds are by many persons considered very good, which may be owing to their feeding much on the nutritious mollusca found about the hedges and covers they frequent.

• Footnote 23 When the golden eagle, sea eagle, peregrine falcon, kite, buzzard, and kestrel,

all of which Mr. Laugtry had at the same time, were at liberty, they never molested each other.