Year: 1875

The Golden Eagle and His Eyre.


A somewhat tedious journey OF thirty
hours from Paris brought me one fine af-
ternoon in the early part Of July to Kut
stein, an ancient fortress forming the
trontier-town of the North Tyrol, toward
Bavaria While occupied in passing my
portmanteau through the prying and un
utterabIy dirty hands of the custom-house
officials was accosted by a man dressed
| in the garb Of a Tyroese mountaineer-
short leathern breeches reaching to the
knee, gray stockings. heavy, hobnailed
shoes, nondescript species of jacket of
the toughest frieze, and battered hat
adorned with two or three feathers Of the
capercailzie and a plume Of the royal
eagle. Old Hansel was one Of the game
keepers on a large imperial preserve
close by with whom some years previ-
ously ! had on more than one occasion
shared a hard couch under the stunted
pines when inopportune night overlook
us near the glaciers while in hot pursuit
of the chamois.


This unexpected meeting proved a
source of the liveliest interest to me, in
asmuch as the old veteran of the noun
tains was on the point OF starting on an
expedition of 4 somewhat remarkable
character. A pair of golden eagles. it
appeared, had made q neighborng valley
the scene of their frequent ravages and
depredations among the cattle and game,
and Hansel was about to organize an ex-
pediJion to search tor, and if possible
despoil the eyrie. OF late years these
birds have become very rare. Switzer-
land is nearly, if not quite, cleared of
them, while the Tyrol, affording greater
solitude, and a larger stock of game, can
boast of eight or at the most ten couples.
| They are: as is well known, the largest
and most powerful of all the birds of prey
inhabiting Europe. measuring from eight
to eight and half feet in the span, and
possessing terrible strength of heak, talons
and wings. A tull-grown golden eagle
can easily carry off young chamois, a
! tull-grown roe OF a sheep, none of them
weighing less than thirty pounds; and
well attested cases have occurred OF young
children being thus abstracted In the
fall Of 1873 a boy nearly eight Years of
age was carried away by one of these
birds from the very door of his parents
cottage situated not far from the celehrat-
ed konigsee, near Salzburg.


The breeding season falls in the month
of June. and in the course of the first fort
night of the succeeding month the young
offspring take wing and commence their
raids in quest OF pillage on their own ac-
count. The eyrie OF nest is an object CT
the greatest care with the parent birds,
the site being chosen with u view to the
greatest possible security, generally in
some crevice on the face of a perpendic-
ular precipice several hundred feet in
height 1t is built of dry sticks OF wood
coated on the inside with moss. Ilansel
informed me Of q surmise that the eyrie
of this pair would be discovered in the
face OF the terribly steep "Falknerwand ;"
and although | had once before been en-
gagged in similar exploit, | could not
resist the temptation to Join in this eNpe-
ditlOn. and despatched on the spot a tele
! gram to the friend who was awaiting nv
| arrival IN AmpeZzO IN order TO illthc some
ascents in the Dolomites, announcing a
detention OF some days. This done, we
re-entercd the cars and proceeded a few
stations farther down the line to quaint
old Rattenberg, a small toWn on the banks
of the swift Inn Not an hour from this
place the scantily- y-inhabited Brandenberg
valley opens on the broad and sunny Inn
thai The former is merely a mountain
gorge. Far up in its recesses stands a
small cottage belonging to the keeper OF
a wood-dritt, and in close proximity to
this solitary habitation is a second very
wild and well-nigh inaccessible ravine,
the scene of the coming adventure.


| Having passed the night in the modest
little inn at Rattenberg, Hansel and set
off next morning long before sunrise on
our eight hours tramp to the wooddriit
by a path which was in most places OF
Just sufficient breadth to allow of one per-
son passing at a time. Few of my fellow
travellers of the day before would have
recognized me in the costume | had
! donned for the occasion an old and
much-patched coat, short leathern trou-
sers, as worn and torn as the poorest
woodcutter's and a ten-seasoned hat
which had been originally green, then
brown, and had now become gray. My
face and knees were still bronZed from
the exposure attendant on long course
| of Alpine climbing the year before.


The keeper OF the wood-drift was an
old acquaintance OF mine, whose qualities
as a keen sportsman had shown forth
when tour or five years previously | had
quartered myself tor a month in his Sc
cluded neighbornood, spending the day
| and frequently also the night on the peaks
and passes surrounding his cottage. To
the buxom Model, his pretty young wife,
| was also no stranger, and her smile and
| blush assured me that she still remem-
| bered the time when, reigning supreme
| over her fathers cattle on a nei ghboring
alp, she had administered to the wants of
the young sportsman seeking nights
| lodging in the lonesome chalet. Many
merry evening had | spent in the low,
oak-paneled general ROOM of Tomerl's
cottage when he was still a gay young
bachelor. and no change had since been
made in the aspect of the apartment. In
one corner stood the hugh pile of pottery
used for heating the room, and round it
were still fixed the rows of wooden laths
| by means Of which | had 50 frequently
dried my soaking apparel. Running the
| whole length OF the room was a broad
bench, in front Of which were placed two
strong tables; and at one Of these We're
seated, at our entrance, two woodcutters,
who had heard of the intended expedition
and come to offer their help. They in
formed us that four more men engaged in
wood-felling in forest an hour or SO dis
tant would also be delighted to join us, as
they did at the close of their days work.


The evening was spent in discussing
the details of the approaching exploit and
getting our various arrangements and i'm
plements in order. At nine o'clock, leav-
ing Tomerl and his wife their accustomed
bed on the top of the stove, the rest of us
retired to our common bedroom, the hay
loft. We were up again by three, and an
hour later were all ready to start. Tomerl
led the way, but stopped ere we lost sight
of the cottage to shout a last '.jodler" to
his wife, who returned the greeting with
clear, bell-like voice, though her heart
was doubtless beating fast under her
smartly-laced bodice.
Three hours later we had reached the
gorge, and after some difficult scrambling
and wading through turbulent torrents
we arrived at the base of the Falkner-
wand, which rises perpendicularly upward
of nine hundred teet-an altitude dimin-
ished in appearance by the ten fold great
er height of the surrounding mountains.