AN UNEXPECTED PASSENGER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1478, 9 February 1887, Page 3

AN UNEXPECTED PASSENGER.

When the ntec.mahip Pol'.ria, of the Union Direct Hamburgh lino, whioh arrived m Now York m November, w^b aiyht days oar, and nearly ia ivid-ocoan, first mate Tmulflon wag hit on the head by sornpthintf nnd knocked ueariy off tho bridgo, ou which he stood tmoking. Ele thougr.t at first that eoroo part of the rigging had been blown loose, but a big bird came fluttering down on tho deck exhausted. Ho ran down and seizsd the bird, which proved to be a large eagle of a kind seldom caught. The bird was so exhausted that it was easily captured. Trauleen tied the bird to the neck and gave It a pioco of raw moat. This the bird devoured aa ' though it had had nothing to eat for some days. Tha voracity of the bird indicated that it would bo an expenaiva boarder, but (he Polatia, like other merchant vessels, carries & good many rats, and the siilors were act to catch them. A big fellow was thrown down m front of the eafile, which caught it and broke its neok b fore it had time to sniff. Tha eagle stripped off the flesh, aud m fivo minutes not a bone was left. Toe bird ate all the rats the sailors could catch that day. The ships carpenter soon rigged up a neat and comfortable cage, and the eagle put into it. Tho eagle is a beautiful bird, delioately speckled with brown and white feathers. Its head is small, but its eyes are large, and m the dark they glow like balls of fire. When tho mite put a his hands m it elands up straight, opens its crooked bill and his tea like an owl.