Page:The Natural History of Ireland vol1.djvu/28

 the Horn. When visiting about the same time the precipitous mountain of Rosheen, near Dunfanaghy, in that county, I was told that for a long time previous to the preceding twelve years, a pair of eagles had built their eyrie in one of the inaccessible cliffs, and as their young advanced in growth, they levied such contri- butions from the surrounding neighbourhood, that the country- people finally resolved upon their destruction. This was effected by lowering from the summit of the precipice a lighted brand, which ignited and consumed the nest, and three unfortunate eaglets fell scorched and dead to the ground. The old birds from that time deserted the mountain. The situation selected for this eyrie indicates that the species was most probably the golden eagle."*

One of these birds, shot at the end of November, 1837, in the county of Londonderry, has come under my notice.

In October, 1833, when looking over a collection of the Brit- ish Falconidæ belonging to Wm. Sinclaire, Esq. with Mr. Adams, lately gamekeeper at Glenarm Park (county of Antrim), lie at once recognised a golden eagle as the species of winch he had killed four individuals in that locality. The first he saw, was in the month of March, when two visited the park. At this time there were but five lambs dropped, and on each of the first two days of the eagles' appearance, a couple of them were carried off. Find- ing that lambs were in such request with these birds, the keeper procured two as bait for his traps, and successfully, as both eagles were captured. In November, a third individual was seen in pur- suit of a hare by my informant and several other persons. The poor animal took refuge under every bush that presented itself, but, as often as she did, the eagle approached the bush so near as apparently to beat its top with his wings, and thereby forced the hare to leave it. In this way she was eventually driven to open ground, where the eagle soon came up with, and bore her off in

Mr. R. Ball mentions a similar circumstance, in the following note. "In the summer of 1837, I saw a pair of golden eagles in the county of Kerry, that were proprietors of an eyrie in a cliff, from which they for a long time issued to commit depredations on the poultry and lambs of the neighbouring peasantry, who in vain endeavoured to get at their nest. At length a boy contrived to sling fire into it, and so destroyed the young, but the old birds still boldly defy all attempts made for their destruction."