442 AVES EAGLE. 



surface of the water. When her prey appears within her reach, she pauses 

 not an instant, but raising her broad wings upwards against the air, and 

 thus taking advantage of the elasticity of both, shoots down as if discharged 

 from a bow or an air-gun, makes the cliff echo to her cherup, and dashes 

 upon the water with the same thunder and spray, as if a lightning-rent 

 fragment had been precipitated from the height. For an instant the column 

 of spray conceals her, but she soon ascends, bearing the prey in her talons, 

 and a brief space elapses before she is lost in the distance." 



As this eagle will eat carrion, it is used as a bait to catch him in Suther- 

 landshire. A minature house, or at least the wall part of it, is built on 

 ground frequented by the eagle, and an opening left at the foot of the wall 

 sufficient for the egress of the bird. To the outside of this opening a bit of 

 strong cord is fixed, with a noose formed on one end, and the other end 

 returning through the noose. After all this operation is finished, a piece 

 of carrion is thrown into the house, which the eagle finds out and perches 

 upon. It eats voraciously; and when it is fully satiated, it never thinks of 

 taking its flight immediately upwards, unless disturbed, provided it can find 

 an easier way to get out of the house ; for it appears that it is not easy for it 

 to begin its flight but in an oblique direction ; consequently it walks delibe- 

 rately out at the opening left for it, and the noose catches hold of and fairly 

 strangles it. 



THE WASHINGTON EAGLE, 1 



The discovery of this noble American bird, we owe to Mr J. J. Audubon, 

 who considers it a new species, never before described by naturalists. 

 There are many, however, who regard it as the sea eagle of Europe just 

 described. Mr Audubon's discovery is thus related in his own words. 



"It was on a winter's evening, in the month of February, 1814, that, for 

 the first time in my life, I had an opportunity of seeing this rare aad noble 

 bird ; and never shall I forget the delight it gave me. Not even Herscnel, 

 when he discovered the famous planet which bears his name, could have 

 experienced more happy feelings. To have something new to relate, to 

 become yourself a contributor to science, must excite the proudest emotions 

 of the human heart. 



"We were on a trading voyage, ascending the Upper Mississippi, — the 

 Keen winter blasts whistled over our heads, and the cold from which I 

 suffered had, in a great degree, extinguished the deep interest which, at other 

 seasons, this river has been wont to awake in me. I lay stretched beside 

 our patroon ; the safety of the cargo was forgotten, and the only thing that 



1 Falco Washingtonianus j Audubon. 



