THEBALDEAGLB. 29 



ho flies out at a low elevation to a considerable distanaa to 

 enjoy his repast at leisure. 



" The quantity of food consumed by this enormous bird 

 is very great, according to the account of those who have 

 liad them in confinement. Mr. Audubon's male bird 

 weighed fourteen and a half pounds avoirdupois. One in a 

 Bmdl museum in Philadelphia (according to the account of 

 my friend Mr. C. Pickering), also a male, weighed much 

 more, by which difference it would appear that they are 

 capable of becoming exceedingly fa/ j for the length of this 

 bird was about the same as that of Audubon, three feet six 

 or seven inches. The width, however, was only about seven 

 feet, agreeing pretty nearly with a specimen now in the 

 New England Museum. The male of the Golden Eagle, 

 the largest hitherto known, is seldom more than three fee< 

 long." 



THE WHITE-HEADED, OR BALD EAGLi:. 



(^HoUaetus leucocephalus.^ 



This bird is about three feet long, and seven feet broad 

 fr\)m tip to tip of the wings. The bill recembles that of 

 the golden eagle, and from the chin hang some small 

 hairy feathers like a beard. As it is found alike in region* 

 of excessive cold and in the torrid zone, it is provided far 



