564 
have become comparatively scarce, it is somewhat doubtful if this species 
now visits Ohio. 
In describing this eagle, Macgillivray, in his “British Birds,” says: 
“The flight of the Golden Eagle is very beautiful. Owing to the great 
size of its wings, it finds some difficulty in rising from the ground, although 
it is considerably more active in this respect than the white-tailed Hagle; 
but when fairly on wing, it proceeds with great ease, and on occasion is 
capable of urging its speed so as to equal that of most large birds. How- 
ever, even at its utmost stretch, it is certainly much inferior to that of the 
' Rock Pigeon, the Merlin, and many other species; and the Raven, during 
the breeding season, finds no difficulty in overtaking an Eagle that may 
happen to fly near his nest. When searching the hills for food, it flies 
low, with a motion of the wings resembling that of the Raven, but with 
occasional sailings and curves, in the manner of many hawks. At times 
it ascends high into the air, and floats in a circling course over the moun- 
tains, until it has discovered some large object; but in tracing grouse and 
animals concealed among the herbage, or in hunting for sea-fowls and 
their young, it does not indulge in those eerial gyrations, which many 
closet and some field naturalists have supposed to be performed solely for 
the purpose of enabling it to spy out its prey from afar. In its ordinary 
flight, it draws its legs close to the body, contracts its neck, and advances 
by regular flappings of the wings; but when sailing, it extends these 
organs nearly to their full stretch, curving them at the same time a little 
upward at the tips. An Eagle sweeping past in this manner is a most im- 
posing object, the more especially if in the vicinity of its rocky haunts, 
and still more if the observer be groping his way along the face of a crag, 
anxiously seeking a point or crevice on which to rest his foot. - 
‘Both our native Eagles sometimes ascend to an immense height in fine 
weather, and float high over the mountain tops for hours together; but 
certainly not for the purpose of descrying the objects beneath, for no per- 
son has ever observed their sudden descent from this sublime station. It 
is a popular notion, countenanced even by many anatomists and others, 
who ought to know better, that the Eagle mounts toward the sun in order 
to enjoy unrestrained the sight of that glorious luminary. They tell us 
that its eye is peculiarly fitted for this purpose, by having a strong semi- 
Opaque nycitant membrane, by means of which the rays are blunted; but 
they forget that the common duck, the domestic fowl, and the sparrow 
