of rapid and sudden aerial evolutions than those of the latter; but as it inhabits the woods, and does not prey upon birds, but animals incapable of saving themselves by flight, its powers of wing (or rather the modification of powers) are in accordance with the circumstances as to food and locality under which it is placed. If the Harpy Eagle soars not aloft, hovering over plains and mountains, it threads the woods, it skims amidst the trees, and marks the Sloth suspended on the branch, or the Monkey in unsuspicious security, and with unerring aim strikes its defenceless victims. Mr. Selby, commenting on the fierceness of a pair of Golden Eagles in his pos session and their readiness to attack every one indiscriminately, observes that when living prey (as Hares, Rabbits, or Cats) are thrown to them, the animal is "instantly pounced on by a stroke behind the head and another about the region of the heart, the bill appearing never to be used but for the purpose of tearing up the prey when dead." It is precisely in this manner that the Harpy Eagle deals with his victims; death seems the work of an instant; the strongest Cat, powerless in his grasp, is clutched, and expires. Nor will this surprise any one who has contemplated the power seated in the talons of this bird; strong as are the talons of the Golden Eagle, great as is the muscular development of its limbs, and formidable as are its claws, they seem almost trifling compared with those of the Harpy Eagle. In the museum of the Zoological Society are skeletons of both these birds, which it is interesting to compare together. The thickness of the bones of the limbs in the latter, and especially of the tarsus, which is more than double that of the Golden Eagle, and the enormous size of the talons, are sufficient to convince the observer of the ease with which, when living, the fierce bird would bury its sharp-hooked claws in the vitals of its prey, and how vain resistance when the fatal grasp was taken. In its native regions the Harpy Eagle is said to be by no means common; were it so, the destruction occasioned by its presence would, it might be naturally expected, preponderate over the renovation of the species which constitute its habitual food, and the balance which nature has established between the destroyed and the destroying, the sanguinary and their victims, be thus disarranged. No doubt that, as is the case with all carnivorous animals, its numerical ratio in a given space is proportionate to that of the animals on which it is destined habitually to feed. Where the Sloth is most abundant, there will most abound the Harpy Eagle. The general color of this noble bird is slate black; the head is light slate-gray, passing into dusky-black on the crest; the under parts are white, with a broad band of dark slate color across the chest. The tail is barred with black and slate color. The beak and claws are black; the tarsi yellow. 80 THE GOLDEN EAGLE. The Golden Eagle is a large bird, weighing twelve or fourteen GOLDEN EAGLE. pounds; measuring in length three feet, and from tip to tip of his wings seven feet and a half. The bill is deep blue, and the cere yellow. The head and neck are of a dark brown, bordered with tawny: the hind part of the bead is of a bright rust-color, and the rest of the body brown. The tail is blotched with ash color. The legs are yellow, and feathered to the toes, which are scaly: the claws are remarkably large, the middle one being two inches in length. This bird is a native of Europe, and even of some of. the more mountain. ous parts of Great Britain. This Eagle has generally been considered by mankind, to hold the same fabulous or imaginary dominion over the birds, which has been attributed to the Lion over quadrupeds. M. de Buffon, adopting the idea, is also of opinion, that the Eagle and the Lion have many points of resemblance, both physical and moral. "Magnanimity (he says) is equally conspicuous in both; they despise the small animals, and disregard their insults. It is only after a series of provocations, after being teased with the noisy or harsh notes of the Raven or Magpie, that the Eagle determines to punish the temerity or the insolence of these birds with death. Besides, both disdain the possession of that property which is not the fruit of their own industry; rejecting with contempt the prey which is not procured by their own exertions. Both are remarkable for their temperance. This species seldom devours the whole of his game, but, like the Lion, leaves the fragments THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 469 and offals to other animals. Though famished for want of prey, he disdains to feed upon carrion. "Like the Lion, also, he is solitary; the inhabitant of a desert, over which he reigns supreme, excluding all the other birds from his silent domain. It is perhaps even more uncommon to see two pairs of Eagles in the same tract of mountain, than two families of Lions in the same part of the forest. They separate from each other at such wide intervals, as to afford ample range for subsistence; and esteem the value and extent of their dominion to consist in the abundance of prey with which it is replenished. "The eyes of the Eagle have the glare of those of the Lion, and are nearly of the same color; the claws are of the same shape; the organs of sound are equally powerful, and the cry equally terrible.* Destined, both of them, for war and plunder, they are equally fierce, bold, and intractable. It is impossible to tame them, unless they be caught when in their infancy. It requires much patience and art to train a young Eagle to the chase; and after he has attained his proper age and strength, his caprices and momentary impulses of passion, are sufficient to create suspicions and fears in his master. Authors inform us, that the Eagle was anciently used in the East for Falconry; but this practice is now laid aside. He is too heavy to be carried on the hand: nor is he ever rendered so tame or so gentle, as to remove all suspicions of danger. His bill and claws are crooked and formidable: his figure corresponds with his instinct: his body is robust; his legs and wings are strong; his flesh is hard; his bones are firm; his feathers stiff; his attitude bold and erect; his movements quick; his flight rapid. He rises higher in the air than any other of the winged race; and hence he was termed by the ancients the Celestial Bird, and was regarded in their mythology as the messenger of Jupiter. He can distinguish objects at an immense distance; but his power of smell is inferior to that of the Vulture. By means of his exquisite sight, he pursues his prey; and, when he has seized it he checks his flight, and places it upon the ground to examine its weight, before he carries it off. Though his wings are vigorous; yet, his legs being stiff, it is with difficulty he can rise, especially if he be loaded. He is able to bear away Geese and Cranes: he also carries off Hares, young Lambs, and Kids. When he attacks Fawns or Calves, he instantly gluts himself with their blood and flesh, and afterwards transports their mangled carcasses to his nest, or aery." Formed for war, these Birds are solitary and unsociable. They are also fierce, but not implacable; and, though not easily tamed, are capable of great docility. They will not, however, bear the least harsh usage without endevoring to resent it. A gentleman who lived in the south of Scotland, had, not many years ago, a tame Eagle. This Bird the keeper one day injudiciously lashed with a horsewhip. About a week afterwards the man chanced to stoop within reach " The voice of the Lion and Eagle, notwithstanding this assertion of M. ae Buffon, will not bear comparison. The one is a deep and dreadful bass; and the other piercing treble, altogether destitute of majesty. of its chain; when, recollecting the insult, the enraged animal flew in his face with so much fury and violence, that he was terribly wounded, but was driven so far back by the blow, as to be out of further danger. The screams of the Eagle alarmed the family; who found the man lying at some distance, covered with blood, and equally stunned with the fright and the fall. The Bird was still pacing and screaming in a manner not less threatening than majestic; and, shortly, afterwards, he broke his chain and escaped. The Golden Eagles build their nests on elevated rocks, ruinous and solitary castles and towers, and other sequestered places. The nest is quite flat; and not hollow, like the nests of other birds. The male and female commonly place it between two rocks, in a dry and inaccessible situation. The same nest, it is said, serves the Eagle during life. Its form resembles that of a floor. Its basis consists of sticks about five or six feet in length, which are supported at each end; and these are covered with several layers of rushes and heath. An Eagle's nest which was, some years ago, found in the Peak of Derbyshire, was made of great sticks, and one end of it rested on the edge of a rock, the other on a birch-tree. Upon these was a layer of rushes, over them a layer of heath, and on the heath rushes again; upon which lay one young Eagle, and an addle egg; and by them a Lamb, a Hare, and three heath pouts. The nest was about two yards square, and had no hollow in it. The females never lay more than two or three eggs. These they hatch in thirty days. They feed their young ones with the slain carcasses of such small animals as come in their way; and, though they are at all times formidable, they are particularly so while bringing up their offspring. It is said that once during a summer of famine, a countryman got a comfortable subsistence for his family out of an Eagle's nest. He pro tracted the assiduity of the old birds beyond their usual time, by clipping the wings, and thus retarding the flight, of their young ones; and tying them so as to increase their cries, which are always found to increase the dispatch of the parents in supplying their wants. It was fortunate for him that the old ones did not detect the plunderer, otherwise their resentment might have proved fatal. A peasant, not many years ago, resolved to rob an Eagle's nest, which he knew to be built on a small island in the beautiful lake of Killarney. He stripped himself for this purpose, and swam over when the old birds were gone: but, in his return, while yet up to the chin in water, the parents, coming home, and missing their offspring, quickly fell on the plunderer, and killed him on the spot. Several instances have been recorded of children being seized and carried off to their nests by Eagles. In the year 1787, in the parish. of Norderhougs, in Norway, a boy somewhat more than two years old, was running from the house to his parents, who were at work in the fields at no great distance, when an Eagle pounced upon and flew off with him, in their sight. It was with bitterest anguish they beheld their child dragged away, but all their screams and efforts to prevent it were in vain Anderson, in his History of Iceland, says, that in that THE OSPREY, OR FISHING EAGLE. 471 island children of four or five years of age have been sometimes taken away by Eagles; and Ray relates, that in one of the Orkneys, a child of a year old was seized in the talons of an Eagle, and carried above four miles to its nest. The mother, knowing the place, pursued the bird, found her child in the nest, and took it away unhurt. The form of the Golden Eagle is extremely muscular; but their chief strength lies in their beak, their talons, and their wings. There is scarcely any quadruped a match for them; as they are capable of giving the most terrible annoyance, without much danger to themselves One flap of their wing has been known to strike a man dead. These birds are remarkable for longevity, and for their power of sustaining abstinence from food for a great length of time. One that died at Vienna, had been in confinement above a hundred years; and one that was in the possession of a gentleman of Conway, in Caernarvonshire was, from the neglect of his servants, kept for three weeks without any sustenance. the expanded wings measure somewhat more than five feet. The wings when closed, reach beyond the end of the tail. The head is small; and is black or brown, variegated with white at the top. The upper parts of the body, and the whole of the tail, are brown, and the belly is white. It is a singular circumstance in this bird, that the outer toe turns easily backward, so as on occasion to have the toes two forward and two backward, and it has a much larger claw than the inner one. This and the peculiar roughness of the whole foot underneath, are well adapted for the securing of its prey. The Osprey frequents large rivers, lakes, and the sea-shore both of Europe and America. In the latter country, particularly, it often affords amusement to strangers. During the spring and summer, |