[Illustration]
Over the lofty peaks of many of the mountains of Europe a magnificent
bird may occasionally be seen flying, while down in the valley, two
thousand feet or more below, a hen may be scratching worms for her
dinner, or a young lamb gamboling over the sweet meadow grass.
From that enormous height, even, the keen eyes of the eagle can detect
the movement of either, and she flies, or rather drops, straight down
upon the poor fowl, and with her powerful foot kills it at a blow, or
breaks the back of the pretty lamb with same terrible weapon. Then, she
rises upward with her prey, to feed the little ones she has left in the
nest.