Note 27 — Chapter VII · NIGHT WANDERERS.

An encounter between an eagle and a polecat in the forest of Glen Avon, Banffshire, is thus described in the New Statistical Account of Scotland. “The eagle builds its eyrie in some inaccessible rock, and continues from year to year to hatch its young in the same spot. One of these noble birds was killed some years ago, which measured upwards of six feet from tip to tip of the wings. One of the keepers of the forest being one day reclining on the side of a hill, observed an eagle hovering about for his prey, and, darting suddenly down, it caught hold of a polecat, with which it rose up, and flew away in the direction of an immense cliff on the opposite hill. It had not proceeded far, when he observed it abating its course, and descending in a spiral direction, until it reached the ground. He was led by curiosity to proceed towards the spot, which was about a mile distant from him, and there he found the eagle quite dead, with its talons transfixed in the polecat. The polecat was also dead, with its teeth fixed in the eagle’s gullet.”