444 THE EMPIRE OF THE AIR. 



circles wliicb. he sweeps in the air. At times he is a,l)solutely motion- 

 less. He is examining" the field or watching a i^rey; then snddenly he 

 drops hundreds of yards. He falls like a meteor with the velocity of 

 bodies falling through space. 



The speed is such that it produces a sound difficult to describe. It is 

 not like that of the bullet or of the cannon ball, but must be heard to 

 get a tiue conception. Then, when within a dozen feet of earth, his 

 wings' great sti'ength safely checks his descent; and this at once — iu 

 half a second — merely by expanding his wings to their full spread. 



His skill is wonderful; never a miss makes he. His eyes are excellent ; 

 trom high up in the air he spies out the rabit hiding in the thicket, or 

 the inconspicuous duck swimming among the reeds. He uses his talons, 

 the arms with which he kills, in a remarkably skillful manner. In cap- 

 tivity, when he is hungry, he catches on the tiy the morsels of meat 

 thrown to him with a single claw, and never misses them if they pass 

 within his reach. His movements have all the precision of those of 

 small birds. He is free, quick, sharp, and j)owerful in his movements; 

 above all, his coup cVwil, the power of taking all in at a glance, is very 

 remarkable. As the motor muscles of the eye-ball are but little devel- 

 oped, he is compelled to turn his head whenever he desires to see any- 

 thing sharply. His head then assumes splendid poses ; his eye, that 

 brilliant gem set under a deep arch, darts out lightning glances; his 

 curved beak, his savage air, his sharp head feathers bristling up and 

 forming a diadem — all that ensemble of vehement sweeping outline — 

 make the eagle a model of power and of audacity. 



He lords it over a territory which he always selects of vast extent. 

 All the smaller mammals dread him; the young of larger animals fear 

 to be seen by him; the young chamois crouches up to its dam, the old 

 bucks call the herd and stamp their feet with fury. Man himself — in 

 infancy — has been attacked by him. 



He is intelligent only from a hunting i^oint of view. A very interest- 

 ing spectacle it is, that of a family of eagles making a hnttne in order 

 to furnish the nest with provisions. 



The male is up 100 yards in air, quite motionless, the female is 

 beating the thickets; her flight while doing this has an ease of gi?eat 

 elegance; she follows the uiululations of the ground without effort; 

 glides from one hill to another, descends and re-ascends the mountain 

 slope; then when a prey appears the two spouses are upon it almost 

 at the same time. It often happens that a hare starting up 10 yards 

 from the female is caught by the male, who was stationed 100 yards, in 

 the air; he dives head foremost, is upon the prey in four or live sec- 

 onds, and picks it up on the fly; then, if he is in the mountains, he first 

 plunges m the valley with his load, and with great wing-beats re-as- 

 cends to his eyrie. There the spoils are divided, and this never takes 

 place Avithout much dispute, spite of the charms of matrimonial bonds. 



Aside from this old leaven of ferocity, which constantly appears, the 



