164 



LE VAILLANT S BIRDS OF AFRICA. 



sensible of my imprudence till, in the middle of the river, I found 

 myself up to the chin. To add to my misfortune, I was alone, and 

 entirely unacquainted with the art of swimming. Had I attempted to 

 return, the rapidity of the current would have undoubtedly thrown me 

 down. Without knowing what was to become of me, I pursued my 

 wa-y, as it were, mechanically ; and I had the good fortune to reach 

 the opposite bank : an inch more would have infallibly drowned me. 

 I rushed upon the eagle ; and the pleasure of securing my prey, soon 

 effaced every remembrance of fear and danger. I was, however, 

 obliged to pull off all my clothes, and to spread them out to dry ; in 

 the mean time I amused myself in examining my prize ; and when 

 my clothes were perfectly dry, I returned without any danger to my 

 habitation. When I arrived, I was told that several of my people were 

 gone in pursuit of a buffalo, which they had met with ; and, towards 

 evening, I saw them return loaded with the limbs of the animal, which 

 they had cut up on the spot. Next morning very early, I did not neg- 

 lect to send in search of the fragments, which they had left to attract 

 birds of prey. This method procured me the male eagle ; which dif- 

 fered from the female in nothing but the general distinction of 'carni- 

 vorous birds, that of being a third smaller." 



The vociferous eagle is very suspicious, and difficult to be ap- 

 proached ; as the sportsman is in view it mounts on the wing and 

 removes to a considerable distance. It ascends to a prodigious height 

 in the air, ; its flight has a peculiar grace, during which the male fre- 

 quently utters sounds that may be rendered by 



Ca-"hou COU---COU 



The syllables, pronounced with slowness, the second sung some 

 tones higher than the first, and the remaining two successively in a 

 lower tone, will imitate very perfectly this bird's call-note of pleasure. 

 It must be remarked, that the vociferous eagle never indulges in these 

 call-notes or song, but when he is sailing through the air ; and then 

 not when he is hovering, but when he accompanies his flight with a 

 singular movement of the wings, as if with a sort of complaisance, 

 turning them underneath his body, until they nearly touch. There 

 may be observed, in this movement, which accompanies his voice 

 during flight, an analogy with the preceding remarks on that which 

 accompanies his cry, when he is perched, and which, in my opinion, 

 shows the necessity of increased effort in this bird, whose voice is ex- 

 traordinary and exceedingly remarkable ; inasmuch as it is very sono- 



