30 



THE OOLOGIST 



tearing up the prey when dead." It is pre- 

 cisely in this manner that the Harpy Eagle 

 deals Avith its victims ; death seems the 

 work of an instant ; the strongest cat, pow- 

 erless in his grasp, is clutched, and expires. 

 Nor will this surprise any one who has 

 contemplated the power seated in the talons 

 of this bird ; strong as are the talons of the 

 Golden Eagle, great as is the muscular de- 

 velopment of its limbs, and formidable as 

 are its claws, they seem almost trifling 

 compared with those of the Harpy Eagle. 

 In the museum of the Zoological Society 

 are skeletons of both these birds, which it 

 is interesting to compare together. The 

 thickness of the bones of the limbs in the 

 latter, and especially of the tarsus, which 

 is more than double that of the Golden 

 Eagle, and the enormous size of the talons, 

 are sutficlent to convince the observer of 

 the ease witli which, when living, the fierce 

 bird would bury its sharp-hooked claws in 

 the vitals of its prey, and how vain resist- 

 ance when the fatal grasp was taken. In 

 its native regions the Harpy Eagle is said 

 to be by no means common ; were it so, the 

 destruction occasioned by its presence would 

 it might be naturally expected, preponder- 

 ate over the renovation of the species which 

 constitute its habitual food, and the balance 

 which nature has established between the 

 destroyed and the destroying, the sanguin- 

 ary and their victims, be thus disarranged. 

 No doubt that (as is the case with all car- 

 nivorous animals) its numerical ratio in a 

 given space is proportionate to that of the 

 animals on which it is destined habitually 

 to feed. AYliere the sloth is most abund- 

 ant, there will most abound the Harpy 

 Eagle. 



The general colour of tliis noble bird is 

 slate-black ; the head is light slate-gray, 

 passing into dusky black on the crest ; the 

 under parts are white, with a broad band 

 of dark slate-colour across the chest. The 

 tail is barred with black and slate-colour. 

 The beak and claws are black ; the tarsi 

 yellow. 



Avi vita Naturae sunt. 



The Rose-breasted Grosbeak. — The 

 Rose-breasted Grosbeak is a somewhat rare 

 and irregular visitor in Eastern Pennsyl- 

 vania. It arrives about the 15th of May, 

 and is mainly a denizen of high, open woods, 

 where it delights in the tallest tree-tops. 

 We have never observed it along water- 

 courses, which has been the experience of 

 others. Eew species are more shy and af- 

 fect greater fondness for places of retire- 

 ment. While gleaning amid the branches 

 of the tallest oaks, almost beyond the reach 

 of effective gunshot, the presence of a hu- 

 man being on the scene, infuses a feeling 

 of dread, and leads to its hasty departure. 

 When absorbed in feeding, or in their gam- 

 bols with each other, the sexes will remain 

 upf)n the same tree for hours together. 



This species is not gregarious, but ap- 

 pears to arrive already paired ; for it is not 

 an uncommon occurrence, even from its 

 first arrival, to find the sexes feeding and 

 rambling together, and in the intervals of 

 gleaning, dallying together ; and lavishing 

 upon each other the most endearing atten- 

 tions. P^ither the species arrives already 

 mated, or performs this indispensable bus- 

 iness immediately on its arrival. Diligent 

 searching has convinced us that it does not 

 breed within our limits, although these 

 movements would seem to warrant the be- 

 lief that it does. Why these tokens of en- 

 dearment and aflfection? On the supposi- 

 tion that the birds arrive already paired, 

 and are devotedly attached to each other 

 as evidenced by these actions which are 

 the promptings of an overflowing love, and 

 which must manifest itself in some such 

 way, when not otherwise diverted by the 

 duties of nidification and incubation, they 

 can be readily accounted for. We have 

 occasionally observed a lonely male to come 

 upon the scene in the midst of these woo- 

 ings or caresses, when a conflict would en- 

 sue, which would last a long while. The 

 female would remain a passive spectator of 

 the struggle, unless her partner wavered in 

 the conflict, when she would come to his 

 rescue, and deal most summary blows upon 

 his antagonist. — Gentry. 



