BOOK II. 



INHABITANTS OF THE AIR. 



I. EAPTORES. Diurnal Birds of Prey. 



THE GOLDEN EAGLE. (Aquila chrysaetos.) 



" But who the various nations can declare, 

 That plough with busy wing the peopled air ? 

 These cleave the crumbling bark for insect food, 

 Those dip the crooked beak in kindred blood : 

 Some haunt the rushy moor, the lonely woods ; 

 Some bathe their silver plumage in the floods ; 

 Some fly to man, his household gods implore, 

 And gather round his hospitable door, 

 Wait the known call, and find protection there 

 From all the lesser tyrants of the air. 

 The tawny Eagle seats his callow brood 

 High on the cliff, and feasts his young with blood." 



BARBAULD. 



THE GOLDEN EAGLE is one of the largest and most power- 

 ful of all those birds that have received the name of 

 Eagle. It weighs above twelve pounds. Its length, 

 from the point of the beak to tho end of the tail, is 



