46 THE BALD, OR WHITE-HEADED EAGLE. 



or some siicli dead animal, it sweeps down and alights upon the stick. The moment that 

 it settles, it is grasped by the concealed inhabitant of the hut, who jerks it through the 

 opening into the little edifice. Owing to the conical shape of the hut, the bird is unable to 

 use its wings, which are its best weapons, and is, therefore, soon mastered and destroyed. 



The nest of this species is constructed after the fashion of the Eagle tribe, and is 

 made of a large mass of sticks, put together in a very inartificial manner. Unlike the 

 generality of the Eagles, it does not return year after year to the same spot, but is of 

 a more roving nature, leaving its young in possession of the dwelling-places, and going 

 farther afield in search of some new hunting-ground. The golden Eagle acts in a pre- 

 cisely opposite manner ; for as soon as the young Eagles are able to shift for themselves, 

 their parents drive them from the locality, and will not permit them to come within a 

 considerable distance of the spot where they were hatched. 



Although it is not as common in the British Islands as was formerly the case, it still 

 breeds regidarly in some parts of Scotland, in Shetland, the Hebrides, and many other 

 localities where it is permitted to spend its life in peace. Even now, it is sometimes 

 observed inland ; it is quite recently that a notice appeared in the Field newspaper 

 of a Sea Eagle that was shot at Livermere Park, near Bury St. Edmunds. The bird 

 measured three feet in length, and seven feet one inch across the wings. It had been 

 observed for some days hovering about, and apparently taking fish from the water in 

 the pai'k. 



The head of the Sea Eagle is covered with long drooping feathers, each feather being 

 ashy brown, and darker at its centre than at the edges. The rest of the body is dark 

 brown, with here and there a lighter spot or streak, the primaries being nearly black. The 

 tail is rounded, and of a pure white colour in the adult Eagle, and brown in the immature 

 bird. The legs, toes, beak, and cere are yellow, and the claws black. The generic name, 

 Haliaetus, is of Greek origin, and signifies Sea Eagles. 



The noble bird which is represented in the accompanying illustration is celebrated as 

 being the type which has been chosen by the Americans as the emblem of their nation. 



The name of Bald, or White-headed Eagle, has been applied to this bird on account 

 lof the snowy white colour of the head and neck, a peculiarity which renders it a most 

 conspicuous bird when at large in its native land. The remainder of the body is a deep 

 chocolate brown, inclining to black along the back. The tail and upper tail coverts are of 

 the same white hue as the head and neck. In its earlier stages of existence the creature 

 is of more sombre tints, not obtaining the beautifully white head and tail until it is four 

 full years of age. 



The nest of the Bald Eagle is generally made upon some lofty tree, and in the 

 course of years becomes of very great size, as the bird is in the habit of laying her eggs 

 year after year in the same nest, and making additions of fresh building materials at every 

 fresh breeding season. She commences this task at a very early period of the year, 

 depositing her eggs in January, and hatching her young by the middle of Feliruary. 

 This statement is made by Wilson, and is corroborated by the following incident, which is 

 narrated in a note to Thompson's Birds of Ireland : — " During a tour made by Eichard 

 Langtrey, Esq., of Fort William, near Belfast, through the .United States, in 1836, he, in 

 the middle of January, observed a pair of these birds fiying about a nest in the top of 

 a gigantic pitch pine, which stood a little remote from other trees, on the bank of the Fish 

 Eiver, Mobile Bay. On the 6th of February he returned to the place, in the hope of 

 procuring a young bird alive. The nest being inaccessible, the tree was cut down, 

 and with it one young bird (unfortunately killed by the fall) came to the ground. The 

 eaglet was covered with down, interspersed M'ith a few feathers. The nest was rather 

 flat, and composed of sticks ; it contained the heads and bones of midlet, and two 

 heads of the grey pelican. The parent birds were in great consternation during the 

 felling of the pine, and to the last moment continued fiying clamorously about the nest. 

 IVIr. Langtrey was told that two or three pair of Bald Eagles build annually about 

 Mobile Bay, and had their nests pointed out to him." 



It is always a very affectionate bird, tends its young as long as they are helpless and 



