The White-headed Eagle. 



189 



THE WHITE-HEADED, OR BALD EAGLE. 



(Haliaetus leucoccphalus.) 



THIS bird is about three feet long, and seven feet broad, 

 measuring to the tips of the extended wings. The bill 

 resembles that of the golden eagle, and from the chin 

 hang some small hairy feathers like a beard. As it is 

 found alike in the frigid and the torrid zone, it is pro- 

 vided for enduring rapid changes of temperature, and 

 its whole body is clothed under the feathers with a kind 

 of down, white and soft like that of the swan. This bird 

 builds its nest on lofty cliffs by the sea-shore, and on 

 the banks of rivers or lakes, and feeds almost entirely 

 upon fish. 



It is generally regarded by the Anglo-Americans with 

 peculiar respect, as the chosen emblem of their native 

 land. The great cataract of Niagara is mentioned as one 

 of its favourite places of resort, not merely as a fishing 

 station, where it is enabled to satiate its hunger upon 

 its most congenial food, but also in consequence of the 

 vast quantity of four-footed beasts, which, unwarily 

 venturing into the stream above, are borne away by 



