62 THE FEATHERED TRIBES. 



them to distinguish their prey at an immense distance ; they rush upon it with the 

 A'elocity of an ai'row, tear it instantly, and unless its weight is unusually considerable, 

 carry it off with their talous. The broad and flat nest constructed by tlie eagles between 

 rocks and large trees is called an eyrio. The female iisually lays two, and but seldom 

 three eggs, which she hatches in thirty days. This nest remains, and except some 

 accident should destroy it, it continues to answer the purposes of the eagle during 

 life. 



With its prnud air, elevated flight, strength of limb, and bold daring glance, it was so 

 greatly admired -by the ancients, that they called it the " Celestial Bird," arid regarded it, 

 in their mythology, as the messenger of Jupiter, and the bearei' of bis thunderbolts. 



The figure of the eagle, in silver or gold, placed at the end of a spear, was the military 

 ensign of Rome and of Persia. In heraldry the same figure has been adopted as the 

 symbol of power, and the eagles of France and America are alike familiar. * 



Proudly conscious of his strength, tlie eagle disdains the smaller animals, and despises 

 their insults. Intent on asserting liis right of conquest, he will have no prey but that 

 which h.e captures. His temperance is great, and he scarcely ever finishes the whole of 

 his game, but leaves the fragments to other animals. Retired, like the lion, in some 

 wilderness, he banishes every bird which niiglit share his spoils, and when two pairs of 

 the same species settle in a forest, they keep sufficiently apart to find ample sustenance in 

 the place they have chosen, without interfeiing with each other. 



The eagle is destructive to fish, and particidarly so to salmon. These birds are con- 

 stantly observed watching the fords in the spawning season, and seizing and carrying off 

 the fish. One observer noticed that they chose a small ford upon the ri\-idet which 

 connects Glencidlen with Glandullah, and posted on either side, waited patiently for the 

 salmon to pass over. Their watch was never fruitless ; and many a salmon, in its transit 

 from the sea to the lake, was transferred from its native element to the wild ej'ric in the 

 Alpine clifi', which beetles over the romantic waters of Glencullcn. 



Some years ago, a herdsman, while looking for a missing sheep on a very sultry day 

 in July, observed an eagle posted on a bank which overhung a pool. Presently the bird 

 stooped and seized a salmon, and a violent struggle ensued. On tlie hoid.sman reaching 

 the spot, he found the eagle puUed under water by the strength of the fish, and his 

 drenched plumage prevented his extricating himself. With a stone the peasant broke 

 the eagle's pinion, and secured at once the spoiler and his victim ; for the salmon was 

 dying in the eagle's grasp. 



The eagle, esjjccially in a state of captivity, can go a long time witiiout food. J5utt'on 

 knew one of these birds, of the common sprcies, which had been taken in a snare, to li\c 

 forty days without any nourishment ; and ho sho\\-ed no symptoms of exhaustion, ex^ept 

 during the last eight days, at the end of which lie was killed. It is a vulgar error to 

 suppose that the eagle never drinks ; when water is presented to him, he will (h-iiik like 

 other birds, and also bathe in it his plumage. According to Spallanzaui, the cajjacity of 

 the crop to that of the stomacli is as thirty-eight to three, whicli exiduins why a single 

 repast will suffice the eagle for so many days. For if a lai-ge animal becomes liis prey, 

 he fills his crop, and as some portion of this nu(riuieiit passes, in due succession, from tlie 

 eroj) into the stomach, digestion jn'oceeds. * 



A gentleman, when .sliooting on Lord Sligo's uKiunlaiiis, near (he Killcilcs, lieard 

 many particulars respecting the eagle, from a grey-haired peasant, who liad passed a 

 long life in these wilds. JIaies luid been there very abundant, and tlie scarcity wliich 

 then prevailed he attribuled to the rapacity of these- birds; and In- aflinned, that wlien 

 in pursuit of these aninial.s, the eagles evinced singular intelligence and lael. Tliey 

 coursed the hares, he said, with great judgiuenl and ccrtaiu success ; one bird was the 

 active follower, while the other remaiucd in reserve, at the distance of forty or fifty yards. 



