ed by any bird of prey, he is said
even to fly to their protection.

The eagle is, however, himself a bird of prey, and is often found a very
troublesome neighbour. Hares, rabbits, poultry, nay, even lambs have
been carried off by these powerful birds, for when excited by hunger
they will attack even those creatures which are larger than themselves.
Deer and even oxen have been pounced upon by eagles and buffeted about
the head until they fell down quite helpless, but there are not many
instances of this kind. We are also told of little children who have
been carried up into their nests by the old birds as food for their
young; and one very old story of the kind, taken from an old book in
English history, I must tell you. "Alfred, king of the West Saxons, went
out one day a hunting, and, passing by a certain wood, heard as he
supposed the cry of an infant, from the top of a tree, and forthwith
diligently inquiring of the huntsmen what that doleful sound could be,
commanded one of them to climb the tree, when in the top of it was found
an eagle's nest, and lo! therein a pretty sweet-faced infant, wrapped up
in a purple mantle, and upon each arm a bracelet of gold, a clear sign
that he was born of noble parents. Whereupon the king took charge of
him, and caused him to be baptized, and because he was found in a nest,
he gave him the name of Nestringam, and in after time, having nobly
educated him, he advanced him to the dignity of an earl."

Eagles are said to be very long lived; one died at Vienna that had lived
in confinement more than one hundred years. Their cry consists of two
notes, uttered in a loud sharp key. They make a flat nest, formed of
loose sticks, on the top of some solitary rock where they are not likely
to be disturbed, and lay two eggs. Whilst the young are not able to fly,
they are carefully fed by the parent birds, who are then more fierce
than usual, and forage everywhere for food, carrying off fawns, lambs,
hares, &c., never, if possible, touching any animal already dead. Smith,
in his history of Kerry, a county in Ireland, tells us of a poor man
then living there, who got "a comfortable subsistence for his family
during a summer of famine, out of an eagle's nest, by robbing the
eaglets of the food the old ones brought." And lest he should lose this
supply too soon, he was clever enough to cut the wings of the young
birds when they were old enough to fly, so that the unsuspecting parents
went on fee