THE AMERICAN EAGI,E 23I 



The American Eagle. 



The following dissertation on the American eagle was a 

 contribution sent in competition for a prize offered for the 

 best essay on birds some time ago. The conditions of the 

 contest were that the composition should be original and 

 the result of personal observation. The essay, which is 

 reproduced verbatim, speaks for itself : 



The american eagle is a bird of the heavens, because 

 they fly almost of the time. He is the king of the day. 

 He is a majestic bird. He represents an Emblem of our 

 native land. He is doomed to stand among the nations. 

 He gives us the joyous shout of liberty. He spreads his 

 wings and dares a soaring far and long though tempest 

 may blow. He will not quail, Kings and nobles come 

 from distant lands to seek the shelter of his wings. He is 

 proud sailing in the heavens; Oh! may our country keep 

 their eye on hira. Proud eagle of the rocky wild,, He has 

 also been known to pick up children from seven to ten 

 years, and carry them quite a distance and although they 

 fly so very high, they never forget their young. If they 

 are not strong enough to get away he will tear them and 

 pick them to pieces with their long and sharp bill and 

 claws. 



Birds and Their Tails. 



Birds have not always had the graceful fan-like bunch of feath- 

 ers which is the typical form of tail of most living species. Their 

 ancestors, the lizard-like birds, trailed long appendages, composed 

 of many little bones, or vertebrae, with a pair of perfectly developed 

 feathers growing from each separate piece of the backbone. 



If we look at the skeleton of a sparrow or dove we will see at the 

 tail end of the spinal column a curious wedge-shaped bone, which 

 is known as the ploughshare bone. This is all that is left of the 

 lizard tail, but the rest of the appendage, in the course of evolution 

 through the ages, has not dropped off, nor, like the tail of the pol- 

 lywog, has it been absorbed. It has been telescoped or crowded 

 together, the bones nearer the body bulging out slightly on either 



