North Carolina standard., 1850-11-06
uARITs OF THE SEA EAGLE.

-;sl Race
Letters to the Editor must come tree OF postage
HABITS OF THE SEA EAGLE.
Th;s .oec;rs of the eagle is much more COM
,,on on ,he west coast of Sutherland than the eol-
den eoole. Scarcely day passes IN winter but
w nr more are to be seen in front of this house
~ och Iover Inn soaring in the air, looking out
ior dead fish which may be cast on the sea oeach
hv The roaring It'd. This seems to DC their prln-
cinol food at this season, with occasionally oraxy
sheep for change. In spring they secure a
plentiful supply Of tender fish by deVnur'ng
Young lambs in summer they least on lawnS'
young hares, and the young OF inc oillerenl sea
birds. such as gull gullamots, putflnS, &C, ana IN
The autumn of the year they take to the shallow
fordS Of the different rivers in search OF salmon,
which thew secure in very shallow water, spaw-
ino Here you may see one or more seated on
rocL or large stone, patiently awaiting his prey
until an opportunity offers, when he will dart on
il and bear it off to some secure place, there to
f.cd unon it. | one dav watched one for hVe
hours. sitting on the same stone, Till the evening
closed in when he lef no doubt for his resting
place. Next morning | was IN my Old seat be-
fore daybreak When scarcely clear enough to
distinguish the stone, my old friend made his ap-
pearance. Here again watched him Tor at least
Two hours: nv feet were as cold as ice. could
wind was contrary, and eagles | knew TO be as
dificuIt 10 stalk as deer when the wind may be
unfavorahe; but even though the wind had been
favorable had another object in view, and that
To see how he managed to secure his scalyprey.
Suddenly he arose from the stone and suspended
himself for moment IN the air, about twenty
vatds from the surface of the water here he let
his legs hang loosely from his body; he then in
s,anliy pounced on the fish, which appeared to be
then in not more than foot so of water, and
carried him of. At this moment he was joined
by hooded crow, then by another and another,
ill they amounted to ten, one making dart at
him now, and another then, sometimes three or
four at a time, keeping up noisome talk of cav,
cav, evidently fearing 10 strike, though often
very near. This Was no doubt sapne in order to
induce him 10 drop the fish, so they mi ght regaIe
themselves at his expense. They now became
so very troublesome and impndeut that
Bile friend thought he could not proceed farther, so
he aghed on the top of hilock close by, and
there babe them defiance. Now l saw very lit
tie chance for me TO get near him, but thought |
would try, and after some little difficulty succeed
ed in getting to within about 100 yards Of him.
but further could not get, the ground bring too
even After resting myself for a minute, and,
looking out through tuft OF heather, | bethougbt
myself of plan which / had often heard proved
successful in deer stalking When a person
stalks deer to within 100 yards or so, and can
not get nearer, which is often the case, for want
of uneven ground 10 screen himself he is TO cock
his gun and watch the deer till he is looking some
other way or feeding Then he is to run at all
his speed and ten 10 one he gains some 20 yards
The deer hears him and looks round to see what
1t Is. Then is his chance to fire; If there is more
than one, this plan will not do, unless they are y-
ing AMI then he may gain 40 or so yards be-
fore they get up Returning to my subject, the
eagle, be had now begun to feed; nv friends, the
crows, seeing me and fying around me, and max
ing great clamor. When his head was down,
| ran at all my speed, gazing some 4G yards, and
Jdst as he was in the act of taking wing, | fired
my right barrel at him, which brought shower
of feathers in my face and made him drop his
fish then discharged my left barrel but this
did not stop him, however, he only few huad-
red yards when he dropped down quite dead
by this time my old grey friends had dispersed,
and was LETT alone with the fish. which was a
salmon, as red as a fox, and would have weighed
above six pounds.
In the year l845 my friend, D. GiIchrist F,so
of Ospeldale, had an eagle of this species which
he kept in house in his garden for more than Q
years His feeding being rather expensive cost.
ing him in that time at least one hundred sheen
he offered him to me-, which accepted Ibrouo +,
hIlh HOtuP, anu Ildu uIiil uCulOQ sta
BILE, feeding him with less expensive food, trout o,
pike, which caught on Loeb Migdale liule
behind Bonar Bridge This food he did no
seem to relish much, prcferring flesh to fish, n
doubt from being so accustomed to tender sheer
He became rather sociable but never tame enoug
to justify his being let loose. There were seve
al cats that came to visit him, and to share wit
him in his fish meals Three of those he manae
ed to Kill and eat, though had never an oppo
tunIty of seeing how he managed to capture then
but supposed that they had come to steal ava
some Of his fish, and he having somehow &C
hold of them with his powerful taIons, made then
pay for their impudence by forfeiting their lives
This may be inferred from the following eli
enmstance, which took place soon afterwards: :
A old gent, Mr.. Rogers, afriend Of mine, cam
10 visit me at Bonar Bridge He had fine bu
!errler which was named Guard and which h
said was one Of the bravest dogs in Scotland
asHed ss my friend to come and see the eagle, Guar
ed eIdII0wng owl, us. From the way which Guard looh
" taought he would like to have a shy at th
e"Ste l asked nv friend IN take the DOC bv tn