THE EAGLE. 



IT is hard to tell just how the Bald Eagle came to be 

 our national emblem. It certainly is not from the 

 character of the bird, for he is a sort of tramp, and 

 sometimes even a thief. I think it must have been 

 from his splendid power of flight, and the fine appear- 

 ance he makes when he is soaring high in the sky. 

 An eagle wi-th his great wings outspread looks so 

 majestic and so powerful that he might easily, in such 

 an attitude, represent the power and greatness of a 

 nation. 



Watch a Bald Eagle getting his dinner, and much 

 of your respect for him will vanish. If he does not 

 steal it, he picks it up here and there like a street- 

 dog, — a dead fish by the shore of a lake, or a dead 

 lamb which the dogs have killed. He often watches 

 an Osprey or Fishhawk till he sees him catch a fish, 

 and then chases him till the hawk with a scream of 

 disappointment drops the meal for which he has 

 worked. The eagle picks it up, and enjoys the ill- 

 gotten food. 



Let us try to gain for our national emblem such a 

 reputation that people will think only of the power 

 and majesty of the eagle, and forget his lazy and 

 thievish habits. 



