﻿1848, BALD EAGLES. 85 



albicilla). This fishing eagle abounds in the wa- 

 tery districts of Rupert's Land; and a nest may 

 be looked for within every twenty or thirty miles. 

 Each pair of birds seems to appropriate a certain 

 range of country on which they suffer no intruders 

 of their own species to encroach ; but the nest 

 of the osprey is often placed at no great distance 

 from that of the eagle, which has no disincli- 

 nation to avail itself of the greater activity of the 

 smaller bird, though of itself it is by no means a 

 bad fisher. The eagle may be known from afar, 

 as it sits in a peculiarly erect position, motionless, 

 on the dead top of a lofty fir, overhanging some 

 rapid abounding in fish. Not unfrequently a 

 raven looks quietly on from a neighbouring tree, 

 hoping that some crumb may escape from the claws 

 of the tyrant of the waters. Some of our voyagers 

 had the curiosity to visit an eagle's nest, which 

 was built, on the cleft summit of a balsam poplar, 

 of sticks, many of them as thick as a man's wrist. 

 It contained two young birds, well fledged, with 

 a good store of fish, in a very odoriferous con- 

 dition. While the men were climbing the tree the 

 female parent hovered close round, and threatened 

 an attack on the invaders ; but the male, who is of 

 much smaller size, kept aloof, making circles high 

 in the air. The heads and tails of both were wiiite. 

 The pelican, as it assembles in flocks, and is 



G 3 



