486 



I3IRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



A very fine adult female obtained at Mount Carmel, Illinois, 

 January 1, 1870, measured 34.50 inches in length and 85.00 inches 

 (7 feet 1 inch) in spread of wings; weight 12 pounds. Bill and 

 cere uniform wax-yellow, inclining to chrome; rictus and eyebrow 

 pale chrome-yellow; iris clear light Naples yellow; tarsi and toes 

 deep chrome-yellow, claws black. 



A very large specimen in the collection of the Audubon Club, of 

 Chicago, measured 3 feet 6f inches in total length and 8 feet 14- 

 inches in extent. 



Along all the larger water-courses in our State the Bald Eagle is 

 a more or less common bird, and may be met with at all times of 

 the year. 



"The White-headed Eagle," writes Dr. Brewer,* "appears to be' 

 equally well adapted by nature for the endurance of heat or cold, 

 and is apparently indifferent to either. Its residence is influenced 

 only by its abundance of food, especially that of fish ; and it seems 

 to matter very little whether that plenty is procurable within the 

 Arctic circle or on the coast and rivers of Florida and Texas. In 

 places like the Falls of Niagara, where the stream is ever liable to 

 contribute the remains of animals destroyed by the descent of the 

 torrent, this eagle is especially abundant. Unscrupulous, greedy, 

 voracious, not select in its choice of food, and capable of providing 

 for itself when necessity compels, we find this not altogether 

 suitable emblem of our country now enacting the tyrant and robber 

 and plundering the Fishhawk of the fruits of its industry, now 

 sharing with the Raven and the Vulture the dead salmon of the 

 Columbia, and in other places diving for and catching its own fish. 

 The impetuosity and skill with which it pursues, overtakes, and 

 robs the Fishhawk, bearing off a fish it has just taken, must be- 

 witnessed to be appreciated; and the swiftness with which the 

 Eagle can dart down upon and seize the booty, which the Hawk 

 has been compelled to let fall, before it reaches, the water, is not 



* Hist, N. Am, E, iii, p. 331. 



