l6 BIRDS OF PREY. 



tree, as was the one described by Willughby in the Peak of 

 Derbyshire. About thirty miles inland from the Mandan Fort 

 on the Missouri I once had occasion to observe the eyry of 

 this noble bird, which here consisted of but a slender lining of 

 sticks conveyed into a rocky chasm on the face of a lofty hill 

 rising out of the grassy, open plain. It contained one young 

 bird, nearly fledged, and almost of the color of the Gyrfalcon. 

 Near their rocky nests they are seen usually in pairs, at times 

 majestically soaring to a vast height and gazing on the sun, 

 towards which they ascend until they disappear from view. 

 From this sublime elevation they often select their devoted 

 prey, — sometimes a kid or a lamb from the sporting flock, or 

 the timid rabbit or hare crouched in the furrow or sheltered in 

 some bush. The largest birds are also frequently their victims ; 

 and in extreme want they will not refuse to join with the 

 alarmed Vulture in his cadaverous repast. After this gorging 

 meal the Eagle can, if necessary, fast for several days. The 

 precarious nature of his subsistence and the violence by which 

 it is constantly obtained seem to produce a moral effect on 

 the disposition of this rapacious bird : though in pairs, they are 

 never seen associated with their young; their offspring are 

 driven forth to lead the same unsocial, wandering life as their 

 unfeeling progenitors. This harsh and tyrannical disposition is 

 strongly displayed even when they lead a life of restraint and 

 confinement. The weaker bird is never willingly suffered to 

 eat a single morsel ; and though he may cower and quail under 

 the blow with the most abject submission, the same savage 

 deportment continues towards him as long as he exists. Those 

 which I have seen in confinement frequently uttered hoarse 

 and stridulous cries, sometimes almost barkings, accompanied 

 by vaporous breathings, strongly expressive of their ardent, 

 unquenchable, and savage appetites. Their fire-darting eyes, 

 lowering brows, flat foreheads, restless disposition, and terrific 

 plaints, together with their powerful natural weapons, seem to 

 assimilate them to the tiger rather than the timorous bird. Yet 

 it would appear that they may be rendered docile, as the Tar- 

 tars (according to Marco Polo in 1269) were said to train 



