EAGLES ON AN ENGLISH LASE.
THE shooting of an osprey in Yorkshire, recently reported in the newspapers, is an offence against public opinion which, we believe, will be almost impossible in a few years' time. It is the habit of these birds when returning from the South to their breeding-places in Scotland to linger about the lakes and estuaries of our Southern and Eastern coasts ; and on these waters they would, if protected, be regular visitors for a few weeks both in spring and autumn. Several English County Councils have included the osprey among the birds permanently protected ; and, though they are birds of passage, their regular appearance and natural tameness
when engaged in fishing will render them a great ornament to Southern lakes and estuaries.
The attraction which preserved areas of water have not only for wild fowl, but for much rarer and larger birds, is scarcely realised by most proprietors. Yet there are some lake sanctuaries, even in England south of the Trent, which tempt not only the passing osprey, but such birds as the sea-eagle and the peregrine-falcon, to linger, the former for many months and the latter often throughout the year, by their well-stocked waters. It is precisely those lakes which are kept most quiet and are least often seen by the public which are thus honoured by these interesting and exclusive visitors. Nor is it necessary to state here the exact site of these sanctuaries. But the following facts may be of interest to those who desire to see the stock of indigenous birds increased by others of marked beauty and interest.
One famous lake near our East Coast has been haunted by sea-eagles since the year 1860. During the last twenty- five years it is believed that the eagles have paid more than fourteen visits to these waters, and remained not for a day or two, but for weeks and months. Their appearance is so well known in that neighbourhood, that it has become part of the folk-lore of the district. Contrary to ancient belief, the eagles' visits are held to be unlucky, and facts are quoted to prove it. Omens from birds are proverbially ambiguous and uncertain, but the existence of this belief is itself evidence of the frequency and permanence of these eagle visits. On one occasion two eagles remained from the autumn to the early months of the following spring. They were frequently seen soaring high over the mansion, and it was noticed that one was smaller than the other. Generally the eagles come singly. The time of their arrival is usually in October, and their stay is commonly protracted until after Christmas. The birds are always of the white-tailed species, not golden eagles. But as the former are quite as large as the latter, the source from which such a voracious and formidable creature finds a living easily enough to keep it for months near an English country house is not at first obvious. The character of the lake explains this in part. It is situated in a very large park of more than three thousand acres, some of which is cultivated, enclosed by a wall nine miles round. The lake is at the edge of this park, about a mile from the sea; but the intervening marshes are strictly preserved, and the owner never allows the eagles to be shot, in spite of their raids on his game and wild fowl. The park and the lake itself supply the sea-eagles with game in such abundance that they are not tempted to roam.
The main food-supply of the birds is derived from the hares which swarm in this enclosed park. The area is large enough for a good estate in itself, and is heavily stocked with all kinds of game. It is said to be quite dangerous to ride a bicycle by night through the park, as the hares will hop up when they see the light, and sit on the roads, and have caused more than one bad spill by being ran over. At daybreak the eagle leaves the tree in which he roosts near the lake, and rushes down on some unlucky hare. One was disturbed just after he had caught his hare. It was already dead, with its eyes picked out. The eagles usually eat the head first, then the body, bones and all, and leave nothing but the skin. They do attack other game, as one was seen in full chase after a partridge. But the hares form the mainstay of their food- supply. This is supplemented by two contributions from the lake itself. For many years this piece of water has been kept as a sanctuary, though shooting on a large scale goes on in the adjacent covers in the park. From October until March it swarms with wild ducks. Sometimes not less than two thousand ducks and widgeon, with other species, are on the water. There is also a heronry, and a large flock of half-wild Canada geese. Galls also come here in numbers, while coots and water-hens abound. This writer has not met among the many persons who have watched the eagles one who has seen an eagle kill a wild duck, though they often " harry " the flocks, and create the most dismal terror amongst them. But the remains of duck are often found which are believed to have been killed by the eagles, and with these the bodies of gulls. It is, however, very possible that these birds are killed by the peregrine-falcons, of which we say something later. Neither do they attack the Canada geese, though these large and conspicuous birds are constantly in flight between
the lake and some adjacent marshes, and must offer a good mark for the eagle's stoop. But the lake, besides wild fowl, holds a great quantity of fish, among them numbers of big bream, running to 6 lb. or 7 lb. in weight. These big bream are liable to sickness in the spring, when the waters " break " and are full of weed, and float up to the top of the water lying on their sides. They then form a favourite dish for the sea-eagles, which flap over the waters, and dropping their feet, pick up the fish and devour them on the bank. The flight of the eagles is peculiar. As they hang round the lake all day, and do not travel any distance from the waters, they spend most of their time sitting in some big tree near the margin. When they take a flight, they look like enormous owls flapping across the park on some misty December day. If one flies down the centre of the lake, the ducks either rise in a body and fly out to sea, or take a short flight, and then, as the eagle overhauls them, drop like stones on to the surface. One of the most instantaneous panics among the ducks caused by an eagle was one bright winter day, when the surface was all frozen, except about two acres at the lower end, where about a thousand ducks were collected. Suddenly the whole mass of ducks rose and flew, with a noise like an explosion. The disturber was an eagle, which flew suddenly round a wood and over the lake.
Peregrine-falcons seem never absent from this lake, and they kill and eat the wild ducks, teal, and widgeon, which are possibly too quick for the eagles. Recently, in April, the writer was watching a bunch of widgeon, with a few teal, flying up the lake, when a peregrine dashed after them, overtook them in a second, caught a teal, and carried it for some twelve yards, and then dropped it. The teal twisted round, flew back in the opposite direc- tion, and then dropped on the water, evidently unhurt. This was only the falcon's "fan," for they never kill a bird over the water, though when a duck is flying over the park it is cut over and devoured. The sight was most curious, for the teal's head was bent down, while that of the falcon was thrown back ; the falcon's tail was also bent downwards so as to be nearly vertical ; it carried the teal in front of its body, not underneath it. " Bustling the ducks " is a regular game with the peregrines, which feed early in the morning, and amuse themselves with tormenting the ducks in the afternoon. One will chase a flock of mallards up the lake, then another dashes out to meet them, and enjoys the sport of seeing the whole flock drop from air to water. This is a very exceptional sanctuary, but there are very many lakes where the same degree of protection might be rewarded by a similar confi- dence on the part of the birds ; and though the eagles and falcons frighten the ducks, they do not drive them permanently from the waters. In Norfolk the white-tailed eagles were for- merly common visitors to the Broad district, where they were 'known as "fen eagles ; " probably they were young birds passing south; but if these birds were less persecuted by the Scotch shepherds their fidelity to this English lake shows that they might reappear on other waters of the East and South. Unfortunately, while the golden eagles are increasing in the deer forests, the sea-eagles, which keep to the coast, and nest mainly near the sheep farms, are persecuted and killed off as much as possible by the shepherds. Even poison is used against them, as they cause some loss among the young lambs. Doubtless the loss is not exaggerated. But while wealthy and public-spirited land owners extend a wel- come to the birds in England, Highland lairds might do something to preserve them in their breeding places.
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