he feet coming to the ground
at the same moment.

Instead of moving forward in a direct line, I observed that it was
making a large circle, which it gradually decreased. I concealed myself
behind the bush, hoping that it would come near enough to give me a
chance of rushing out and striking it a blow on the back, when I could
at once have killed it. With intense interest, therefore, I watched its
proceedings. I now observed a small animal which I saw was a hare in
the centre of the circle it was forming. The little creature,
terror-stricken, seemed unable to run off, though, being a fleeter
animal than the lynx, it might easily have escaped.

The lynx approached nearer and nearer the hare, keeping one of its sharp
eyes fixed on it all the time, when, having got sufficiently near to
reach its prey, it made two bounds, and the hare the next moment was
dead.

I was on the point of rushing out to secure, as I hoped, both the lynx
and the hare, when I saw a dark shadow cast on the ground, and, looking
up, I caught sight of a golden eagle, which must have come from the
far-off Rocky Mountains, in the act of pouncing down on the lynx; the
latter, seeing its enemy, dropped the hare and prepared to defend itself
and prevent its prey being carried off. In spite of the large size of
the lynx, the eagle swooped downwards to the attack, striking with its
powerful beak the quick-sighted animal on the back, into which it fixed
its sharp talons.

The eagle had, however, not so firm a hold as to prevent the lynx from
freeing itself; then with its formidable claws it sprang at the bird,
tearing some of the feathers from its breast.

On this the eagle rose into the air, and circling several times round, a
short distance above the earth, prepared undauntedly again to descend
and renew the combat. The lynx, watching every movement, as it saw the
bird coming made a tremendous leap, trying to seize it by the neck; but
the eagle, striking its antagonist's body with its talons, threw it on
its back, and again attempted to plunge its beak into the throat of the
lynx.

So furiously did the two creatures struggle, and so thickly was the snow
sent flying round them, while the air was so filled with the eagle's
feathers, that I could scarcely distinguish what was taking place.

I should have rushed forward to destroy both the combatants, had I not
feared that seeing me coming the eagle might fly off, and the lynx
scamper away out of m