THE SOARING OF BIRDS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."' SIR,—The interesting article on " The Soaring of Birds," in the Spectator of November 8th, brings to my memory an incident which I witnessed some time ago. I was woodcock-shooting near Killarney, when one of the beaters called out, " Look at the aigle ! " I looked up, and high over the top of the crag at whose base I was shooting, I saw a golden eagle soaring. He wheeled in a spiral manner higher and higher, with no apparent motion of the wing, till he seemed a mere speck against the blue sky. Then gliding downwards in a slanting direction till on a level with the tops of the nearer mountains, he would remain for a moment motionless, and then, still with no movement of the pinions, return to his former position almost over my head. Soon a second eagle joined him, and both these splendid birds
soared in spirals, rising and falling for a considerable time. I was so fascinated that I could not take my eyes off them till at last they glided away over the far-off mountain-tops, and I saw them no more. During the whole time I was watching these birds, I saw no motion whatever of the wings.
The flight of an eagle is a mystery, and no word in the English language describes it better than " soaring."—I am, Sir, &c.,
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