LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



29 



about five inches in diameter, and composed of 

 fine twigs, neatly lined with fibrous roots. He 

 observed that the nests found in Van Diemen's 

 Land were larger, more compact, and more neatly 

 formed, than those on the continent of Australia ; 

 and one which was shown to him by Mr. Justice 

 Montague, near Hobart Town, was placed at the 

 extremity of a small leafy branch. The nest 

 figured by Mr. Gould is so represented. 



By the way, Mr. Yarrel gives, in his highly 

 interesting British Birds, a vignette executed from 

 a drawing by Mr. Edward Cooke for the late Mr. 

 Wells, of Redleaf. It represents a nest of our 

 common swallow built on a bough of a sycamore, 

 which hung low over a pond at the Moat, Pens- 

 hurst, in Ken* in the summer of 1832. 



Mr. Gould describes the eggs of Artamus sor- 

 didus, which are four in number, as differing 

 much in the disposition of their markings, of a 

 dull white ground color, spotted and dashed with 

 dark umber brown ; in some, he says, a second 

 series of grayish spots appear, as if beneath the 

 surface of the shell ; medium length eleven lines, 

 and breadth eight. 



The head, neck, and the whole of the body of 

 the bird are of a sooty gray; the wings dark-bluish 

 black ; the external edges of the second, third, 

 and fourth primaries, white. The tail is black, 

 with a tinge of blue, and all its feathers, except 

 the two middle ones, have extensive white tips. 

 The irides are dark brown, and the blue bill has a 

 black tip. The feet are lead color ;' sexes alike 

 in color, the female rather the smaller ; length, 

 nearly six inches. Mr. Gould remarks, that the 

 young have an irregular stripe of dirty white 

 down the centre of each feather of the upper sur- 

 face, and are mottled with the same on the under 

 surface. 



April 1. Yesterday the weathercocks, which 

 had so long been fixtures, veered round 



Grat& vice veris et Favoni. 



Every bud is now bursting, every seed is 

 swelling now. All Nature is prolific, reminding 

 us of the great egg of Night that floated in chaos, 

 and was broken by the horns of the celestial bull. 

 From this egg* sprang up like a blossom Eros, the 

 lovely, the desirable, with his glossy, golden 

 oinionsj Eros, the elder Cupid, the personifica- 

 tion of divine love. 



All sublunary eggs, in which the principle of 

 life glows, are now advancing ; and the remem- 

 brance of a promise to relate the attempt of the 

 poor incarcerated white-headed eagles to incubate 

 rises. 



The female white-headed eagle (Halia'itos 

 leucocephalus) laid her first egg on the 5th of 



* The TtQMTov wov, the first great egg or seed of the 

 ancient philosophy. A serpent was coiled round it, em- 

 blematical of the eternal divine wisdom. Its image was 

 worshipped in the temple of the Dioscuri, Helen's 

 brothers, as a representation, probably, of Leda's produc- 

 tion. The breaking of the egg by the horns of the bull 

 is typical of the genial effect of spring. 



t Aristophanes, Aves, 1. 694. Bekker. 



3 



April, 1845, and a second on the 8th of the same 

 month, on a rough nest, composed of litter and 

 twigs, &c., on the floor of her apartment in the 

 eagle-hut at the garden in the Regent's Park. 



What a prison for a bird whose home is on the 

 rock that shoots up from the lake, or the cliffs 

 which overhang the mighty river or the wide sea ! 

 Niagara is a favorite resort of the white-headed, or 

 bald eagle the latter appellation a misnomer, for 

 no bird has a better feathered head. There it 

 sits or soars on the watch for the fish, and also for 

 the carcases of squirrels, deer, bears, and other 

 quadrupeds, which, in their attempts to cross the 

 river above the falls, have been caught by the 

 current and dashed down those awful cataracts. 



It is a very powerful bird, three feet long, and 

 seven in alar extent ; and- has been seen flying off 

 with a lamb ten days old ; but it let the prey fall 

 from a height of ten or twelve feet, in consequence 

 of its struggles and the shouts of the spectator, 

 who ran with loud halloos after the depredator ; 

 the poor lamb's back, however, was broken by the 

 crushing swoop. Nay, a white-headed eagle has 

 been known to seize and throw down an infant, 

 and drag it for a short distance, when the cries of 

 the mother, who had set down the little innocent 

 to amuse itself while she weeded her garden, and 

 the giving way of the child's dress, a portion of 

 which the eagle bore off, saved its life. Thus 

 was a second scene of the " Bird and Bantling" 

 happily cut short. 



It will also attack old and sickly sheep, aiming 

 furiously at their eyes. 



In short, he is a most determined brigand, 

 whose portrait has been admirably painted by Wil- 

 son. Look on this picture : 



Elevated on the high dead limb of some gigantic 

 tree, that commands a wide view of the neighboring 

 shore and ocean, he seems calmly to contemplate 

 the motions of the various feathered tribes that pur- 

 sue their busy avocations below ; the snow-white 

 gulls slowly winnowing the air ; the busy tringse 

 coursing along the sands ; trains of ducks streaming 

 over the surface ; silent and watchful cranes, intent 

 and wading ; clamorous crows, and all the winged 

 multitudes that subsist by the bounty of this vast 

 liquid magazine of Nature. High over all these 

 hovers one whose action instantly arrests all his 

 attention. By his wide curvature of wing and 

 sudden suspension in the air, he knows him to be 

 the fish-hawk, settling over some devoted victim 

 of the deep. His eye kindles at the sight, and 

 balancing himself, with half-opened wings on the 

 branch, he watches the result. Down, rapid as an 

 arrow from heaven, descends the distant object of 

 his attention, the roar of its wings reaching the ear 

 as it disappears in the deep, making the surges 

 foam around. At this moment the eager looks of 

 the eagle are all ardor, and, levelling his neck for 

 flight, he sees the fish-hawk once more emerge 

 struggling with his prey, and mounting in the air 

 with screams of exultation. These are the signal 

 for our hero, who, launching into the air, instantly 

 gives chase, soon gains on the fish-hawk ; each ex- 

 erts his utmost to mount above the other, display- 

 ing in these rencontres the most elegant and sublime 

 aerial evolutions. The unimcumbered eagle rap- 



