BIRDS OF PREY. 173 



and it is rather seldom that they come inland, unless 

 it is to the mountainous regions. 



Of course so bulky a bird preys upon animals and 

 birds of large size, and Dr. Warren has given an 

 amusing account of one kept in confinement, which 

 very readily despatched cats of the largest size and 

 ate a very considerable portion of them. 



Lewis and Clarke found this bird on the Pacific 

 seaboard, and remark concerning it, 



" This bird is feared by all his carnivorous competitors, which, on 

 his approach, leave the carcass instantly on which they had been 

 feeding. The female breeds in the most inaccessible parts of the 

 mountains, where she makes her summer residence, and descends to 

 the plains only in the fall and winter seasons. The natives are at 

 this season on the watch, and so highly is this plumage prized by the 

 Mandans, the Minnetarees, and the Ricaras, that the tail-feathers of 

 two of these eagles will be purchased by the exchange of a good 

 horse or gun." 



Everybody is supposed to know the whole history 

 of the Bald Eagle, and certainly the adult bird is 

 always recognized at sight. The glistening white 

 head and white tail mark it at once as the eagle, and 

 I am not positive that the bird possesses any particu- 

 larly interesting phase of habit or character. It is 

 neither brave nor cunning, and when the fish-hawk 

 will provide it with fish it is quite willing that it 

 should do so. 



J. K. Lord found them stupid to a marked degree 

 on the Pacific coast in winter. He says, 



" They collect, young and old together, round the Sumass Lake, 

 and as the cold becomes intense they sit three and four on the limb 

 of a pine-tree, or in a semi-stupid state, all their craft and courage 

 gone, blinking and drowsy as an owl in daytime. 



