T)1K WHITE-HEADED t!EA EAIJLE. 71 



hawk, each exerts his utmost to mount above the other, displaying in these rencontres 

 the most elegant and sublime aerial evolutions. The unincumbered eagle rapidly advances, 

 and is just on the point of reaching his opponent, when with a sudden scream, probably 

 of despair, and honest execration, the latter drops his fish ; the eagle, poising liimself 

 for a moment, as if to take a more certain aim, descends like a whirlwind, snatches it 

 in his grasp, ere it reaches the water, and bears his ill-gotten booty silently away to the 

 woods." 



Sometimes, however, the fish-hawks assemble in bands too numerous for him to 

 encounter, and he is driven to hunt for himself. He then usually retires inland, and 

 occasionally destroys great numbers of young pigs and lambs. At other times he 

 contents liimself with fowl ; and ducks, geese, and gulls fall victims to his insatiable 

 appetite. 



A \'ivid picture of the eagle, in such circiunstances, has been painted by the pencil of 

 Audubon : — 



" To give you," he says, " some idea of the nature of this bird, permit me to place 

 you on the Mississippi, on which you may float gently along, while approaching winter 

 brings milhons of water-fowl, on whistUng wings, from the countries of the north, to 

 seek a milder climate in which to sojourn for a season. The eagle is seen perched in an 

 erect attitude on the highest summit of the tallest tree, by the margin of the broad 

 stream. His ghstening, but stem eye, looks over the vast expanse ; he hstens attentively 

 to every sound that comes to his quick ear from afar, glancing now and then on the 

 earth beneath, lest even the hght tread of the fawn may pass unheard. 



" His mate is perched on the opposite side, and should all be tranquil and silent, 

 warns him by a cry to continue patient. At this well-known call, the male partly opens 

 his broad wings, inchnes his body a httle downwards, and answers to her voice in tones 

 not imlike the laugh of a maniac. The next moment he resumes his erect attitude, and 

 again all around is silent. Ducks of many species, the teal, the wigeon, the mallard, 

 and others, are seen passing with great rapidity, and following the course of the current ; 

 but the eagle heeds them not, they are at that moment beneath his attention. The next 

 moment, however, the wUd, trumpet-like sound of a yet distant, but approaching, swan 

 is heard. A shriek from the female eagle comes across the stream ; for, kind reader, 

 she is fully as alert as her mate. The latter suddenly shakes the whole of his body, 

 and, with a few touches of his bill, aided by the action of his cuticular muscles, arranges 

 his plumage in an instant. 



" The snow-white bird is now in sight ; her long neck is stretched forward ; her eye 

 is on the watch, \agilaut as that of her enemy ; her large wings seem with difficidty to 

 support the weight of her body, although they flap incessantly. So irksome do her 

 exertions seem, that her very legs are spread beneath her taU to aid her flight. She 

 approaches, however. The eagle has marked her for his prey. As the swan is passing 

 the dreaded pair, the male bird starts from his perch, in full preparation for the chase, 

 with an awful scream that to the swan's ear brings more terror than the report of the 

 large duck-gun. Now is the moment to witness the eagle's powers. He ghdes through 

 the air hke a falling star, and hke a flash of hghtning, comes upon the timorous quarry, 

 which now, in agony and despair, seeks by various mancEuvres, to elude the grasp of his 

 cruel talons ; it mounts, doubles, and willingly would plunge into the stream, were it not 

 prevented by the eagle, which, long possessed of the knowledge that by such a strata|gem 

 the swan might escape him, forces it to remain in the air, by attempting to strike it with 

 his talons from beneath. 



