74 HALIAETUS ALBICILLA. 



it appears, that it is not easy for it to begin its fliglil 

 but in an oblique direction; consequently, it walks de- 

 liberately out at the opening left for it, and the cord 

 being fitlj^ contrived and placed for the purpose, catches 

 hold of, and fairly strangles it." 



Everest, in his " Journey through Norway, Lapland, 

 &c." has the following remarks on the eagle, which he 

 compares with the gyrfalcon, much to its disadvantage : 

 " There are many eagles here ; but an eagle, till you 

 come close enough to him to feel the full force of his 

 eye, is, I should be bold enough to say, a mean-looking 

 object, if there were not so many assertions to the con- 

 trary. The peculiarity in the shape of his wing, which 

 has the third and fourth quill-feathers longer than the 

 first and second, deprives him of that beautiful arch 

 which so many of our common birds possess, and makes 

 him appear at a distance like a large raven. His 

 rising from the ground is laboured, and his flight as 

 sluggish as that of the common heron or barn-owl. 

 When he flies across you, at a short distance ofi^, you 

 are struck with his great size, the vast muscular power 

 of the upper joint of the wing, and the sweeping breadth 

 of it. Gray, with truth, called it an ample pinion. I 

 have never seen them soar so high as the large black- 

 backed and herring gulls." From what I have already 

 said, it has been seen that I agree with Mr Everest in 

 several particulars of the above account ; but others of 

 it I cannot but consider incorrect. I have a hundred 

 times seen the eagle rise in the air, so as to attain an 

 elevation at which he was with difficulty perceptible. 

 The same phenomenon every one has seen exhibited 

 by the lark; but it may easily be supposed how much 



