74 BIRDS OF PREY. 



young are hatched at different periods. Lawson, however, 

 says, that they breed so often as to commence laying again 

 under their callow young, whose warmth assists the hatch- 

 ing of the eggs. This eyry or breeding-place continues to 

 be perpetually occupied and repaired as long as the tree 

 endures ; indeed their attachment to particular places 

 is so strong, that after their habitation has been de- 

 molished, by the destruction of the tree that supported 

 it, they have very contentedly taken possession of an 

 adjoining one. Nor is the period of incubation the only 

 lime spent in the nest by this species ; it is a shelter 

 and common habitation at all times and seasons, being a 

 home like the hut to the savage, or the cottage to the 

 peasant. 



The helpless young, as might be supposed, are fed 

 with great attention, and supplied with such a superflu- 

 ity of fish and other matters, that they often lie scattered 

 around the tree, producing the most putrid and noisome 

 effluvia. The young are at first clothed with a whitish 

 down ; they gradually become grey, and continue of a 

 brownish grey until the 3d year, when the characteristic 

 white of the head and tail becomes perfectly developed. 

 As their food is abundant, the young are not forcibly 

 driven from the nest, but fed for some time after they 

 have left it. They are by no means shy or timorous, 

 will often permit a near approach, and sometimes even 

 bristle up their feathers in an attitude of daring defence. 

 Their cry is sonorous and lamentable, like that of the 

 Great Eagle, and when asleep they are said to make a 

 very audible snoring sound. 



The principal food of the Bald Eagle is fish, and though 

 he possesses every requisite of alertness and keenness of 

 vision for securing his prey, it is seldom that he obtains 

 it by any other means than stratagem and rapine. For 



