In those parts of the Highlands of Scotland where eagles are numerous,
and where they commit great ravages among the young lambs, the following
methods are used for destroying them:--When the nest happens to be in a
place situated in the direction of a perpendicular from the edge of a
cliff above, a bundle of dry heath or grass inclosing a burning peat is
let down into it. In other cases, a person is let down by means of a
rope, which is held above by four or five men, and contrives to destroy
the eggs or young. The person who thus descends takes a large stick with
him, to beat off or intimidate the old eagles. The latter, however,
always keep at a respectable distance, for powerful as they are, they
possess little of the courage which has in all ages been attributed to
them, being in this respect much inferior to the domestic cock, the
raven, the sea-swallow, and a hundred other birds. Sometimes eagles have
their nests in places accessible without a rope, and instances are known
of persons frequenting these nests, for the purpose of carrying off the
prey which the eagles carry to their young. A very prevalent method by
which eagles are destroyed, is the following:--In a place not far from a
nest, or a rock in which eagles repose at night, or on the face of a
hill which they are frequently observed to scour in search of prey, a
pit is dug to the depth of a few feet, of sufficient size to admit a man
with ease. The pit is then covered over with sticks, and pieces of turf,
the latter not cut from the vicinity, eagles, like other cowards, being
extremely wary and suspicious. A small hole is formed at one end of this
pit, through which projects the muzzle of a gun, while at the other is
left an opening large enough to admit a featherless biped, who on
getting in pulls after him a bundle of heath of sufficient size to close
it. A carcass of a sheep or dog, or a fish or fowl, being previously
without at the distance of from twelve to twenty yards, the lyer-in-wait