STORIES ABOUT BIRDS. 149 



showed his inflamed eyes and swollen head. 

 Sometimes this threatening appearance on the 

 part of the snake seemed to have the effect 

 intended by it. It produced a slight pause in 

 the combat. But the eagle soon returned to 

 the charge, and, covering her body with one of 

 her wings, as a shield, she struck her enemy 

 with the other. I saw him, at last, stagger 

 and fall. The conqueror then fell upon him, 

 and with one stroke of her beak laid open his 

 skull." 



The eagle sometimes gets the worst of it, in 

 his attempts to prey upon other birds. Here 

 is an instance of his defeat: "I was crossing a 

 wide plain," says one, " when I saw a dense 

 flock of birds, some thousands in number, mi- 

 grating to the north. Soon they were in great 

 agitation, wheeling and circling with much 

 velocity. The precise cause of their trouble I 

 did not at the first instant perceive. They 

 opened to form a hollow square, or rather globe, 

 and then closed u.p with a frightful clatter of 

 wings. They suddenly spread out in every 

 direction, when I saw an eagle among them, en- 

 deavoring to catch one for his supper. Again 

 they went through the same manoeuvre, form- 

 ing a hollow globe, with the eagle in the centre, 

 and closing up with a still more frightful crash. 



13* 



