70 THE FEATHERED TRIBES. 



the pictm-esque efifcct of the magnificent scenery at the falls of the Missouri. " Just 

 below the pitch," say these travellers, " is a little island in the middle of the river well 

 covered ivith timber. Here, on a cotton wood tree, an eagle had fixed its nest, and 

 seemed the undisputed mistress of the spot, to contest whose dominion neither man nor 

 beast would venture across the gulfs which surround it, and wliich is further secured by 

 the mist rising from the falls." 



Its favourite places of resort are chosen not merely as fishing stations, where it is able 

 to satiate its hunger on its most congenial food, but also in consequence of the vast 

 numbers of four-footed beasts, which, unwarily venturing into the stream — as at Niagara — 

 are borne away by the ton-ent and precipitated do^vn those tremendous falls. The 

 number of birds of prey of various kinds which assemble at the foot of the rocks to glut 

 themselves on the banquet thus provided, is said to be incredibly great ; but they are 

 all compelled to give place to the eagle, when he deigns to feed on carrion, and the crow 

 and the vulture submit, Avithout a struggle, to the exercise of that tyranny which they 

 know it would be m vain to resist. 



" We have ourselves," says Wilson, " seen the bald eagle, whilst seated on the dead 

 carcase of a horse, keep a whole flock of vultures at a respectful distance, until he had 

 fully sated his appetite." And he adds another instance, in Avhich many thousands of 

 tree squirrels having been drowned, in one of their migrations, in attempting to pass the 

 Ohio, and having furnished for some time a rich banquet to the vultures, the sudden 

 appeai-ance among them of a white-headed eagle at once put a stop to their festivities, 

 and drove them to a distance from their prey, of which the eagle kept the possession for 

 many successive days. 



So strong a propensity for carrion is, doubtless, quite at variance with the received 

 opinion that eagles only make their attacks on living animals ; but it should be re- 

 membered, that the sea eagles have an organization peculiarly fitted for feeding on fish, 

 and are consequently better adapted for digesting putrescent, and even putrid food, than 

 any other group of the tribe to which they belong. They carry their voracity indeed to 

 a disgusting extent. 



The most common method of obtaining food, adopted by the white-headed eagle, con- 

 sists in snatching from the fish-hawk, a variety of the osprey, the hard-earned morsel for 

 which the latter has watched in vain. " Elevated," says Wilson, " on the high dead limb 

 of some gigantic tree that commands a wide view of the neighbouring shore and ocean, 

 he seems calmly to contemplate the motions of the various feathered tribes that pursue 

 their busy avocations below ; the snow-white gulls slowly winnowing the air ; the busy 

 tringse coursing along the sands ; trains of ducks streaming over the surface ; silent and 

 watchful cranes, intent and wading ; clamorous crows, and all the winged multitudes that 

 subsist by the bounty of this vast li(i\ild magazine of nature. High over all these 

 hovers one, whose action instantly arrests his attention. By his wide curvature of wing, 

 and sudden suspension in the air, he knows him to be the fish-hawk, settling over some 

 devoted victim of the deep. His eye kindles at the sight, and balancing himself with 

 half-opened wings on the branch, he watches the result. 



" Down, rapid as an arrow from heaven, descends the distant object of his attention, 

 the roar of its wings reaching the ear as it disappears in the deep, making the surges 

 foam around ! At this moment, the eager looks of tiie eagle are all ardoiu- ; and, lev- 

 elling his neck for flight, he sees the fish-hawk once more emerge struggling with his 

 prey, and mounting in the air with screams of exultation. Those are the signals for 

 our hero, who, launching into tlie air, instantly gives chase, and soon gains on the fish- 



