128 BIRDS OF THE WEST 



spots and bars. Tail with three or four bands of black and white 

 at the tip with short wings and long tail, he is a rapid dodger and 

 a terror to small birds. He needs a gun. 



342. SWAINSON'S HAWK. Buteo Swainsonii. Twenty inches 

 long. A prairie hawk. White beneath with brown band across Its^ 

 breast. Throat white. Tail fully banded. One of the most valuable 

 birds on earth and perfectly harmless. 



327. SWALLOW-TAILED KITE. Elanoides forficatus. Twenty- 

 one inches long. Blue-black above except head. Head and under- 

 neath pure white. Tail forked. 



348. ROUGH-LEGGED HAW^K. Archibuteo ferrugineus. Twen- 

 ty-two and a half inches long. White below streaked with brown, 

 especially on flanks. Reddish brown above. Tail white. Called 

 "squirrel hawk." 



349. GOLDEN EAGLE. Aquila chrysaetus. Thirty-three inches 

 long. Head and neck golden on the back. Plumage brown. Tail 

 mostly white. Legs with white feathers. Young birds generally 

 darker than older ones. 



352. BALD EAGLE. Haliaetus leucocephalus. Thirty-three inches 

 long. Head and neck white. Body brownish. Beak yellow. Tail 

 rounded. Our national bird. 



GOLDEN EAGLE. 



This, the king of birds, favorite of Jove, the thiinderer, 

 messenger of that great god of the Romans who sat upon Olympus ' 

 height, that was borne by Roman soldiers upon the tops of their 

 standards that like flags were carried before the Roman legions, 

 was the type of all that was watchful, brave and daring. 



The Indian takes "Eagle" for his name, wears its feathers 

 on his war dress and tips his arrows with them so that they 

 will fly straight to the heart of his enemy. 



The eagle whose picture adorns our coins can whip any 

 living thing of its size. He is a fit emblem of our national life, for 

 he is quiet and peaceful except in matters of business, when he 

 always gets what he goes after. 



On the edge of the Bad Lands, I once climbed a precipice to 

 see an eagle's nest. It was hard and dangerous climbing and I 

 should never dare do it again. At last I reached the eyrie where 

 two very young eaglets were resting in their feather-lined nest 

 of coarse twigs laid flat upon the edge of the precipice. I was 



