oor; the servants, who slept in the kitchen,
concluded that the _Banshee_ came to forewarn them of an approaching
death, and buried their heads in the bed-coverings. When morning broke
the door was opened--the seal was there lying dead upon the threshold!"

"Stop, Julius!" I exclaimed, "give me a moment's time to curse all
concerned in this barbarism."

"Be patient, Frank," said my cousin, "the _finale_ will probably
save you that trouble. The skeleton of the once plump animal--for, poor
beast, it perished from hunger, being incapacitated from blindness to
procure its customary food--was buried in a sand-hill, and from that
moment misfortunes followed the abettors and perpetrators of this
inhuman deed. The detestable hag, who had denounced the inoffensive
seal, was, within a twelvemonth, hanged for murdering the illegitimate
offspring of her own daughter. Every thing about this devoted house
melted away--sheep rotted, cattle died, 'and blighted was the corn.'
Of several children none reached maturity, and the savage proprietor
survived every thing he loved or cared for. He died _blind_ and
miserable.

"There is not a stone of that accursed building standing upon another.
The property has passed to a family of a different name, and the series
of incessant calamity which pursued all concerned in this cruel deed is
as romantic as true."

_Visit to the Eagle's Cliff, in Inniskea._

We ascended the hill (while the crew were clearing and baiting their
spillets) in the vague hope of getting a shot at these predatory birds,
of whose spoliations we had heard so much on the preceding evening.

On reaching the bottom of the rock, in whose face the aerie stands, we
discovered that the old birds were absent, and as the nest was formed in
a deep fissure, we could not ascertain its situation exactly. But that
the eagles' dwelling was above us was evident, enough: the base of the
cliff was strewn with bones and feathers, and the accumulation of both
was extraordinary. The bones of rabbits, hares, and domestic fowls, were
most numerous, but those of smaller game, and various sorts of fish,
were visible among the heap.

Many attempts are annually made to destroy this predatory family. It is
impossible to rob the nest. Situated two hundred feet above the base of
the rock, it is of course unapproachable from below, and as the cliffs
beetle over it frightfully, to assail it from above would be a hazardous
essay. An enterprising pe