his friends and historians have been "to his virtues very kind, and to his faults 

 a Httle bHnd." 



It is not unusual for writers to belittle the eagle and to express regret that he 

 was chosen as the national symbol. He is a coward, they say, a robber, even a 

 carrion hunter. It was because he is "a bird of bad moral character and does not 

 get his living honestly" that Benjamin Franklin opposed his employment as our 

 national emblem. There are some facts in the life of the eagle that give support 

 to these criticisms. With all his strength of wing and beak and talons he will 

 allow his nest to be rifled of eggs or young without serious resistance. Although 

 able to fish for himself, at least in a very moderate way, it is well known that 

 he prefers to have the fish hawk do his fishing for him. Perched on some com- 

 manding tree or clifif, he watches the fish hawk dive for his prey. He then mounts 

 high in the air. When the hawk is well above the water, the eagle swoops down 

 upon him with a scream, the frightened hawk drops his prey, the eagle darts 

 down and, seizing it before it reaches the water, carries it away to his own nest. 



Fish are the chief article of diet with the eagle. To obtain them they patrol 

 the beaches of lakes and pick up the fish that are washed ashore. The bald eagle 

 is common along the western coast of Michigan. In a half day's walk along the 

 beach one may see a dozen of them, and all gaining their food from stranded 

 fish, not always fresh. 



Audubon, however, speaks highly of the eagle and describes his splendid 

 skill in capturing ducks, geese and swans. Major Bendire also speaks well of 

 this splendid bird, and commends him for his skill and courage. 



Eulogy on "Bob White" 



Wm. T. Hornaday 



"To my friend, the epicure: The next time you regale a good appetite 

 with blue points, terrapin stew, filet of sole and saddle of mutton, touched up 

 here and there with the high lights of rare old sherry, rich claret and dry mono- 

 pole, pause -as the dead quail is laid before you on a funeral pyre of toast and 

 consider this : 'Here lies the charred remains of the farmer's ally and friend, 

 poor Bob White. In life he devoured 145 different kinds of bad insects and 

 the seeds of 129 anathema weeds. For the smaller pests of the farm he was 

 the most marvelous engine of destruction that God ever put together of flesh 

 and blood. He was good, beautiful and true ; and his small life was blameless. 

 And here he lies dead, snatched away from his field of labor, and destroyed, 

 in order that I may be tempted to dine three minutes longer after I have already 

 eaten to satiety.' " 



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