SEA EAGLES. 573 
the highest trees. Its flight is as powerful as that of the Golden 
Eagle, and its strength and adroitness are even greater. 
This Eagle is represented on the flag of the United States. 
‘The illustrious Franklin with sorrow regretted the selection his 
nation had made. 
“Tt is a bird of low and evi! nature,” wrote Franklin, in one of 
his letters ; ‘it does not know how to gain its livelihood honestly. 
Added to this, it is nothing but a cowardly rogue. The little Wren, 
which is not so large as a sparrow, resolutely attacks it, and drives 
it from its haunts! Thus, in no point of view is it a suitable 
emblem for a brave and honourable nation.” 
The varieties of this family are numerous on the North American 
continent, but the distinctions are not sufficiently great to deserve 
particular notice. Those from other portions of the globe most 
worthy of attention are the Marine Eagle (Pandion ichthyaétus), which 
inhabits Java; the Piscivorous Sea Eagle (Cuncuma vocifer); the 
Caffir Sea Eagle, discovered in Africa by Levaillant ; the Sea Eagle of 
Mace (C. JZacei); and the Pondicherry Eagle, called by some the 
Sea Eagle of India, which inhabits India and Bengal, where the bird 
is an object of veneration among the Brahmins, being consecrated to 
Vishnu. 
We shall class with the same genus the Osprey (Pandion halietus), 
which, although different from Sea Eagles in certain details of 
organisation, is, however, allied to them by its aquatic habits. It 
prefers the neighbourhood of lakes and rivers to the sea-shore. It 
is frequently mistaken for the Sea Eagle. Wild fowl and carrion are 
sometimes its food, but fish forms the principal portion of its diet. 
It does not always enjoy the fruit of its labour, for the Sea Eagle 
frequently forces it to abandon its prey, which, if dropped in the air, 
will be adroitly re-seized by the robber in its descent. 
The old naturalists, Aldrovandus, Gesner, Klein, and Linnzus, 
sanctioned a singular error concerning the organisation of this bird. 
From the fact that it sometimes dives into the water to catch fish, 
they imagined that it had one foot webbed for swimming, and the 
other furnished with prehensile claws for seizing prey. The River 
Osprey is about a third smaller than the Sea Eagle. It is found 
all over Europe, but especially in Germany, Switzerland, and the 
east of France, and also in the Canadas and United States. 
The birds which form part of the genus JJorphnus (Cuvier) 
occupy a middle position between Eagles and Hawks, of which 
we shall speak further on. They are characterised by a full and 
rounded tail, comparatively short wings, and the existence of a tuft 
