A FIGHT WITH AN EAGLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12401, 14 October 1903, Page 1 (Supplement)

A FIGHT WITH AN EAGLE.

Max* will be content when he' can fly as well as his little friend the sparrow. But lit must for ever abandon hope of emulating the eagle. The latter has been detected by the aid of a. telescope. when, to the naked eye the skies? were empty. A famous sportsman (says the St. James' Gazette) has left on record that he saw a young eagle, which was soaring aloft with a hare, drop its prey, recover it in the air, and repeat the performance thrice, before reaching its eyrie safely. Its muscular strength is enormous. That eagle which was. shot in ; Windsor Park flew several hundred: yards with a bullet through its brain. On the other hand, like Achilles, it has its rtdnerable spot. A herdboy hit one on the wing with a pebble, disabled it, and stoned it to death as it lamely struggled to escape. *.-. Sir Osbert Mordaunt's father was witness of a .strange battle between an eagle and a stag, which completely dispels any theory that the ornithologist may put forward as to eagles not attacking large animals. The bird singled out from a, herd one particular buck, which it succeeded in driving from the rest. It struck' the animal repeatedly with its powerful wings, knocked it down, and finally killed it. Baron Schroecler witnessed a. still more remarkable spectacle. An eagle attacked the calf of a hind, which was one of a herd in the Highlands'. The cries of the little one were answered by its dam,, which sprang upon the eagle and struck it repeatedly with its forefeet. Calf, hind, and eagle rolled headlong down a declivity, and the bird was dislodged from its hold and the kid rescued. But Sir Kenneth Mackenzie knows a more thrilling story than either of these, for, according to report, an eagle was rent in two during a battle in his forest at Gairloeh. Fixing its talons in the quarters of a roe, the bird was dashed against a. tree,, to a branch of which it endeavoured to hold to stay the flight of its captive. The bird was halved in an instant.

Many traditions are extant as to eagles having carried off audi devoured children. In the North "Of England the legend is perpetuated by the name of many an inn, the sign "The Eagle and the "Child" being common. The most- recent case bearing scrutiny appears to be one Avliich occurred in South Africa. A Boer farmer, living on the veldt just beyond Barberton, whose stock had been tamed by eagles, lay in ambush for the aerial robbers, and saw one of them, descend and cany off tie five-year-old child of one of his Kaffir servants. He shot' the bird, which, with, the child still clutched in its grip, fell into a thorn bush. The bird was dead when picked up, but the babe was little hurt. The. eagle measured 9ft. from tip to tip of the wings.