The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-02-05
MOUNTAIN SHEEP AND sAGLE.
a Battle to the Death, in Which the
Quadruped Came Out Victor.
From ne San Francisco Cah

a Battle to the Death, in Which the
Quadruped Came Out Victor.
From, the San Francisco Cali
A party of hunters in Kings River can
yon, California, recently saw a struggle be-
tween an eagle and mountain sheen aud
the eagle got the worst Of it. The sheep
escaped with the loss of a small quantity Of
wool and few scratches. If a man had
escaped from the same position in the same
manner be would most likely have con-
sidered that miracle had happened. The
hunters. in describing the battle to a re-
porter, said they saw a sheep in a place on
the rocks that be could not leave. lie had
come down the mountain side, but did not
seem able TO get up again, and each mo-
ment seemed as il no would fall from the
ragged rocks to the depth below. He
was about 500 feet above the bot
tom Of the valley and the hunters specu-
lated as TO the means he would take to get
out of his fix. 1t was plain he could not
jump to the bottom and there was no visible
means of his getting back to the grass
covered hills he had left at the top. The
sheep realized his position and looked in
every direction for a means of escape. Not
finding one he would jump IA little lower
until he was on rocky hillside so steep
that his hind legs were on a level with his
head. At last he got to very small place
where he could not turn around and spent
several minutes jumping from one side to
the other as If making up his mind to jump
to the bottom. There was only one course
left and he sprang TO a pinnacle of rock
about twenty feet below.
Now he was in fix. The top OF the rock
was not more than 5 or feet square, and
on one side was a wall of rock impossible to
ascend without wings, and on the other side
the cliff went straight down to the valley
800 feet below. He was in position where
it seemed as il be would have TO commit
suicide by jumping or starving TO death.
The hunters expected every moment to see
the sheep dashed to death at the bottom of
the cliff, and in hopes Of witnessing the
plunge refrained from shooting him. But
while they were waiting another actor sp-
peared on che scene and things became in
teresting. The new arrival was a large
eagle that saw at once the predicament of
the sheep. It seemed a good chance TO get
meal by beating the sheep from the rock
and eating it when it was mangled at the
bottom. The sheep realized its danger and
braced Itself for the attack.
The eagle circled around faster and faster.
and at last dashed itself against the sheep,
but not hard enough to knock it off. 1t made
several attempts, and the sheep was getting
weak. As il failed to dislodge the sheep BY
one in the rear. The sheep very nearly went
over, and the eagle seemed to know that
method Of proceeding was the best 1t re-
peated the attack very fiercely, but in some
manner got its head under the animals horu
and could not get it out again. The sheep,
seeing his advantage held his head back,
while the eagle clawed furiously and beat the
air with its wings Soon both rolled from the
cliff but the eagle Topped its wings with
terrible power, and the descent was very
slow. The bottom was almost reached
when the eagle caught in the branches Of
pine tree. and for moment both hung in
the air a few feet above the earth But the
eagle was quiet, and its neck had been
broken. The sheep seemed very weak for
some time, but at last gave a few kicks and
fell to the ground, leaving its assailant
hanging to the tree. The eagle was dead
but the sheep, after shaking ITSELF to make
sure iU was all right, began to nibble the
grass at It's feet