THE BLACK EAGLE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1732, 24 April 1913, Page 5

THE BLACK EAGLE.

ROMANCE OF THE WILD

Jim'ied deep among the high hills lies the Glon cf the lilack liaglo. To the north of thu glen Hie ground rises quickly la near tho -JOOO-loot line, and ilitis file wild storms from tho norm are lull.; i'elt in the glen, wliero straggling and veteran Hcot-j til's cling tenaciously lo the hitUiio at a greater elevation than in any other part of tlieso islands. In the gien ino black eaglo lias made his home lor many, many years. Near the burn which murmurs oetween pine-clad banks arc two agTii fir trees, rising pre why above their fellows, and in these tho eagle makes his home. 11l both of these trees lie, or his anchors, have constructed an eyrie, and it is rarely indeed that his mate briugs fjrth her young in tho same nest in two consecutive seasons.

At tho foot of one of these trees thorn lio tho i"eiuiniis of a still earlier nest, now moss-grown and with its twigs whitened with the frosts and snows of many a winter. Nome iimo bac'; a tragedy was discovered in oib of the eyries of the black eagle—and for sevornl seasons afterwards tiio cyrfo was avoided b.v tho birds. It was towards .tho en.l of the summer, that a stalker noticed a number of feathers clinging to the eyrie. With difficulty lie sealed tho tree—to find, the skeleton of the mother eaglo brooding on her nest. The cause of the tragedy must needs bo conjecture, but likely as not tho eagle had fallen a victim to poisoned food set out for her on a neighbouring grouse moor, and had returned to tho eyrio to die, proudly guarding her home to the last.

Tiie. black eaglo is generally a bird of grim silence, but when her nest is disturbed, the hen eagle, may atvako tho echoes of the glen. Villi loud and wild call notes. Among the- hillmen of the western seaboard tho englo is sometimes known ns An t'Bun llor Abu. I'lorma MacLeod, in one of his charming stories of hill life, tells how he -was for long at a loss to discover the meaning of tho curious word Abu. Even tho old hillmen were unable to enlighten him, but at length ho bedims aware that i Abu the slogan or war cry of the early Gaels: Truly fitting is it that such a war cry should survive in tho wild call-uots of flto black eagle. v

For six. long weeks the black ca»le broods silently on her two speckled eggs. Winter still holds sway in (lie glen wiifln the parent bird commences tiie first part of- lier duties as a'mother. The ground maybe is covered with a foot of snow, perhaps even more.

l.ast spring, April was not many (lays olil when a furious blizzard from tho nor'west visitcil the glen. Hour after hour the wind blow with hurricane force, bringing with it blinding, drifting snow. Oil all sides veteran pines, which had withstood the storms of over a cen'tury, were sent crashing to the ground. Still the mother eagle brooded bravely, defiantly in her eyrie, crouching low, with head facing the tempest, and when May smilingly entered the glen she 'had her reward, for in place of tho egss she now guarded a couple of downy chicks— quaint little fellows, with pin]: eyes and flio most composed manner imaginable. For the next three months tho eagles tended their young. Often tho cock bird would appear above tho hill-top to the 'north, bearing in his talons an unfortunate grouse, ami to tho accompaniment of wild' and delighted cries from tho eaglets, would swoop down to the eyrie, bringing tho eagerly anticipated meal. As midsummer approe.ched, the glen was bathed in bright sunshine day ait°r and the eyrie became so,heated that the eaglets—now fully feathered, and .with difficulty distinguishable from their parents—gaped and panted, and even made short excursions to tho outlying branc'nes of their tree in their efforts to escape the glare. And then, ono glorious .Tuly morning, tho parent! eagles decided that their children were capable of going forth into tho glen. Wo wero privileged to watch this initial flight. Side by side did tho brother and sister eaglets leave the eyrie. With somewhat unsteady flisht they took their lino down the glen. They reached tho burn side, but Cheir feeble wings had not sufiicr.ent ■power to carry them further, and having attemnted unsuccessfully to alight on the branches of a tree, they half-tumbled down into the long heather which grows by the burn. Hero their parent l ! tended them until they, too, wero able to mount on the arms of the storm, but when they wero fully able, to fend for themselves these same parents, which had showered on their offspring alt their love, now relentlessly drove threr children from the glen. Autumn succeeded summer, and now the glen is again covered deen with the snows of another winter, but still we may see almost daily the black, eagle snaring, grim and inscrutable, hieh above the dark pines. Hero he and his mate will roam till tho call of snring once more draws them irresistibly to the veteran fir. whole, soothed by the rushinz of the hill burn, the mother eai.de will' once again sternly guard her treasure;.—'":': Scotsman." "