106 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



enger and piratical bird, they would never have selected it 

 as a symbol, but, rather, the bold, self-reliant Golden 

 Eagle. In the air, it is indeed a graceful and magnificent 

 bird, and with its powerful build and proud appearance, 

 they were naturally led to look upon it as the embodiment 

 of courage and perfection. Eespecting the habits of the 

 Bald Eagle, Dr. Brewer says: 



" The Bald Eagle appears to be equally well adapted 

 by nature for the endurance of heat or cold, and is appar- 

 ently indifferent to either. Its residence is influenced only 

 by its abundance of food, especially that of fish ; and seems 

 to matter very little whether that plenty is procurable 

 within the Arctic circle, or on the coast and rivers of Flor- 

 ida and Texas. In places like the falls of E'iagara, where 

 the stream is ever liable to contribute the remains of ani- 

 mals destroyed by the descent of the torrent, this Eagle is 

 especially abundant. Unscrupulous, greedy, voracious, 

 not select in its choice of food, and capable of providing 

 for itself when necessity compels, we find this not alto- 

 gether unsuitable emblem of our country now enacting the 

 tyrant and robber, and plundering the Eish Hawk of the 

 fruits of its industry, now sharing with the Raven and the 

 Vulture the dead salmon of the Columbia, and in other 

 places diving for and catching its own fish. The impetuos- 

 ity and skill with which it pursues, overtakes and robs the 

 Eish Hawk, bearing off a fish it has just taken, must be 

 witnessed to be appreciated ; and the swiftness with which 

 the Eagle can dart down upon and seize the booty, which 

 the Hawk has been compelled to let fall, before it reaches 

 the water, is not the least wonderful feature of this strik- 

 ing performance. On the banks of the Columbia, where 



