l fly off of their own accord, as soon as
their wings can bear them over the sea. If an eagle were so partial to
his native vale, as never on any account, hungry or thirsty, drunk or
sober, to venture into the next parish, why then the old people would be
forced, on the old principle of self-preservation, to pack off their
progeny to bed and board beyond Benevis. But an Eagle is a Citizen of
the World. He is friendly to the views of Mr Huskisson on the Wool
Trade, the Fisheries, and the Colonies--and acts upon the old adage,

"Every bird for himself, and God for us all!"

To conclude, for the present, this branch of our subject, we beg leave
humbly to express our belief, that Sir Humphry Davy never saw the Eagle,
by him called the Grey or Silver, hunting for fish in the style
described in "Salmonia." It does not dislike fish--but it is not its
nature to keep hunting for them so, not in the Highlands at least,
whatever it may do on American continent or isles. Sir Humphry talks of
the bird dashing down repeatedly upon a pool within shot of the anglers.
We have angled fifty times in the Highlands for Sir Humphry's once, but
never saw nor heard of such a sight. He has read of such things, and
introduced them into this dialogue for the sake of effect--all quite
right to do--had his reading lain among trustworthy Ornithologists. The
common Eagle--which he ignorantly, as we have seen, calls so rare--is a
shy bird, as all shepherds know--and is seldom within range of the
rifle. Gorged with blood, they are sometimes run in upon and felled with
a staff or club. So perished, in the flower of his age, that Eagle whose
feet now form handles to the bell-ropes of our Sanctum at Buchanan
Lodge--and are the subject of a clever copy of verses by Mullion,
entitled "All the Talons."

We said in "The Moors," that we envied not the eagle or any other bird
his wings, and showed cause why we preferred our own feet. Had Puck
wings? If he had, we retract, and would sport Puck.

_Oberon._

"Fetch me this herb--and be thou here again,
Ere the Leviathan can swim a league."

_Puck._

"I'll put a girdle round about the earth
In forty minutes."

How infinitely more poetical are wings like these than seven-league
boots! We declare, on our conscience, that we would not accept the
present of a pair of seven-league boots to-morrow--or, if we did, it
would be out of mere politeness to the g