130 NATURAL HISTORY. 



ing his opponent, when with a sudden scream, probably 

 of despair and honest execration, the latter drops his fish. 

 The Eagle, poising himself for a moment, as if to take a 

 more certain aim, descends like a whirlwind, snatches it 

 in his grasp ere it reaches the water, and bears his ill- 

 gotten booty silently away to the woods." Dr. Franklin 

 thus speaks of this Eagle : " For my part, I wish the Bald 

 Eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our 

 country. He is a bird of bad moral character ; he does 

 not get his living honestly. You may have seen him 

 perched upon some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish for 

 himself, he watches for the labors of the Fishing Hawk ; 

 and when that diligent bird has taken a fish, and is bear- 

 ing it to its nest for the support of his mate and young 

 ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him, and takes it from him. 

 With all this injustice, he is never in good case, but, like 

 those among men who live by sharping and robbing, he 

 is generally poor, and very often lousy. Besides, he is a 

 rank coward ; the little king-bird, not bigger than a spar- 

 row, attacks him boldly and drives him out of the dis- 

 trict. He is therefore by no means a proper emblem for 

 the brave and honest Cincinnati of America, who have 

 driven out all the king-birds from our country, though 

 exactly fitted for that order of knights which the French 

 call chevaliers d' industries 



222. The Secretary Bird, Fig. 108 (p. 131), derives its 

 name from the tufts of feathers at the back of its head, 

 having some resemblance to pens stuck behind the ear. 

 It is allied both to the Eagles and the Falcons, but its 

 exact place is a subject of dispute. It inhabits South 

 Africa, Senegambia, and the Philippine Islands. It lives 

 on snakes and reptiles, which it devours in great numbers. 

 When attacking a snake, it uses one wing as a shield, 

 striking the snake with the other till it is senseless, 1 

 then, with a blow with its beak, it splits the snake's 

 head, and swallows the animal. In the crop of one of 

 those birds there were found eleven large lizards, three 



