Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-06-06

/
wounded eagle was desperate customer
for man to tackle, said Lewis Williams
of Berks County, Penn, could have
witnessed an encounter that had with
one once ON the Blue Mountain. in Tul-
pehocken township, he would have had
his doubts removed IN short order. /
had been losing a good many chickens
one fall, and supposing that they were
being carried off by foxes | set trap for
Reynard. The morning after setting
the trap | went out to look for it, and It
was nowhere to be seen. It had been
chained to small stake in the ground.
and the stake was also missing.
believing that the fox, although its
cunning had not saved it from the trap.
had been smart enough to pull up the
stake in some way and then make off
with trap, chain, stake and all / made
pretty thorough search in the woods
around about there, but could not find
any trace of fox or missing property.
As / was returning home / heard a
great commotion among a big flock of
crows in the woods quarter of a mile
up the mountain. The crows were cav
ing in such furious chorus that their
cries could have been heard for mile.
The birds were circling around the tree
tops in one particular spot, and fire.
quently number of them would dart
yiciously down through the trees toward
the ground. / was curiLus to know
what could be causing this unusual pro-
ceeding among the crows, for they are
birds that do not fool their time away
for nothing. / walked up the mountain
and as ] approached the spot where the
crow circus was going on, the tumult
among the crows increased. When ar
rived within easy gunshot of the spot
the flock withdrew to more distant
part of the woods, but kept up their
hubbub, and iawed and Chartered in n
way that left no doubt of their having
been intensely disturbed by some I'M
pleasant experience.
walked on, and had taken but a few
steps when heard sound as of a chain
being dragged along the ground, and in
stantly concluded that it was the chain
of my missing trap. / momentarily
expected to see the fox, hampered by
the trap on his leg, come into sight, be-
lieving that he had been attacked by
the crows, who had discovered him in
his crippled condition. Imagine my
surprise then when, instead of the fox
making his appearance, an enormous
bald eagle strutted out from behind a
big tree, dragging the trap, chain, and
stake. The jaws of the trap were fast
ened on one leg of the great bird.
81 had with me an ordinary shotgun,
with which I had expected to kill the
fox if found it in my trap. When the
eagle saw me it rose with great difficulty
from the ground, owing to the burden
on the leg, and flew toward the top of
tall, dead tree fired at it. The charge
hit the eagle in one of its wings, and
brought the bird to the ground. The
eagle was such q splendid specimen
that / resolved TO capture it alive.
] approached il with no thought of
having any difficulty in accomplishing
my purpose in the handicapped and
crippled con lition of the bird but /
found that / didn't know as much about
bald eagles as l thought | did, for in
spite of the crippled wing and the bur
den of the trap and chain, the eagle
rushed upon me and attacked me with
such fury that l turned and fled from
the woods.
cat the edge of the woods stopped,
and at first thought l would go back
and shoot the eagle, but my desire to
have it alive was so strong that | deter |
mined to make every effortto capture it. |
/ hurried home and gotta stout rope and |
an empty feed bag. On my way back |
to the woods / noticed that the crows |
which had first attracted my attention |
to the spot were lowering over the place
where | had fled from the maddoned !
eagle, and from their peculiar cries and |
frantic motions l inferred that some
thing of moment to them had occurred. |
found that such was indeed the case. /
The crows, knowing by the wonderful /
instinct they possess, that the eagle was
wounded and cripp ed, and hating rs
they do all large birds, had swooped
down on the eagle and attacked it in its
disabled condition. The attack had
been disastrous to the crows, for when |
reached the spot five of the sable assail-
ants lay dead near their enraged Zoe,
and several others were dragging them
selves away to escape further damage
from his terrible beak and one free
talon, uttering the harsh cry which they
only utter when wounded or IN trouble.
''The eagle no sooner saw me again
than he rushed toward me with all the
force at his command, lIanpered and
crippled as he was, and forced the fight
ing at once. I had made moose IN
one end of my rope. As the eagl came
tearing towards me, his sound wing
raised severalsinches from his side, the
wounded one dragging helpless and
bleeding on the ground, his powerful
hooked beck thrown open, the feathers
on his neck bristling like the hair ON an
angry buck, and the chain clanklng as
he dragged the heavy trap ON his leg, ne
was startling picture OF intense nate
and unbounded fury. l had never faced
so fierce a presence, nor could l nave
imagined one. 1 knew that by the
plan had formed for capturing the ca
pie could quickly oyerpower hlm II |
conld manage it successfully; so stood
my ground, and when the immense plLu
was almost near enough to me to strike
80 ,r;tb his heck. I quickly tossed the