30 



LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



idly advances, and is just on the point of reaching 

 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-gotton booty silently 

 away to the woods. 



This is very beautiful and very poetical, and, 

 what is more, very true. But there are two sides 

 to a question, as there were to the shield about 

 which the two silly knights fought. Turn we 

 now to honest, homely Benjamin Franklin's view 

 of the case. 



In his letter to Mrs. Bache, dated Passy, Jan- 

 uary 26, 1784, he observes, that the gentleman 

 who made his voyage . to France to provide the 

 ribands and medals nad executed his commis- 



To me (says that venerable philosopher and 

 sturdy republican) they seem tolerably done ; but 

 all such things are criticized. Some find fault with 

 the Latin, as wanting classical elegance and cor- 

 rectness ; and since our nine universities were not 

 able to furnish better Latin, it was a pity, they say, 

 that the mottoes had not been in English. Others 

 object to the title, as not properly assumable by 

 any but General Washington and a few others who 

 served without pay. Others object to the bald 

 eagle, as looking like a dindon, or turkey. 



For my own 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 on some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish 

 for himself, he watches the labor of the fishing- 

 hawk ; and when that diligent bird has at length 

 taken a fish, and is bearing it to his 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 often very lousy. Besides, 

 he is a rank coward ; the little king-bird, not bigger 

 than a sparrow, attacks him boldly, and drives him 

 out of the district. He is, therefore, by no means 

 a proper emblem for the brave and honest Cincin- 

 nati of America, who have driven all the fo'n^-birds 

 from our country, though exactly fit for that order 

 of knights which the French call Chevaliers d' In- 

 dustrie. I am, on this account, not displeased that 

 the figure is not known as a bald eagle, but looks 

 more like a turkey. For, in truth, the turkey is, 

 in comparison, a much more respectable bird, and 

 withal a true original native of America. Eagles 

 have been found in all countries, but the turkey 

 was peculiar to ours ; the first of the species seen 

 in Europe being brought to France by the Jesuits 

 from Canada, and served up at the wedding-table 

 of Charles IX. 



He is, besides, (though a little vain and silly, 't is 

 true, but not the worse emblem for that,) a bird of 

 courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grena- 

 dier of the British Guards, who should presume to 

 invade his farm-yard with a red coat on. 



The editor of this interesting correspondence 

 remarks that a learned friend had observed to 

 him, that the assertion about the first turkey being 

 brought to France, &c., is a mistake, as turkeys 



were found in great plenty by Cortes when he in- 

 vaded and conquered Mexico, before the time of 

 Charles IX., and that this, and their being 

 brought to old Spain, is mentioned by Peter Mar- 

 tyr of Angelina, who was secretary to the council 

 of the Indies, established immediately after the 

 discovery of America, and personally acquainted 

 with Columbus. 



But, after all, the white-headed eagle is a bold 

 fellow ; and Mr. Gardiner relates, that when 

 riding within five or six rods of one, the bird, by 

 raising his feathers and his general defying de- 

 meanor, seemed willing to dispute the ground 

 with its owner. 



As for the vultures, the eagle treats them as 

 so much dirt ; and, indeed, they are little better. 

 He has been frequently seen to keep them at a 

 respectful distance especially upon one occasion, 

 when a whole colony of hapless squirrels had been 

 hurried down the falls of Niagara till he had 

 completely satiated himself with the harvest of 

 death ; but, when pressed by hunger, he plays 

 the same game with a well-filled vulture as he 

 does, ordinarily, with the fish-hawk, attacking it 

 furiously, making the cowardly glutton disgorge 

 the carrion with which its craw is crammed, and 

 then snatching up the dainty contents. 



The nest in a state of nature is generally fixed 

 on some large, lofty tree, often in a swamp or 

 morass ; and, if the tree be a favorite, will there 

 be continued for years in succession. From being 

 thus repaired and added to every season, it be- 

 comes a dark, prominent mass, catching the eye 

 at a considerable distance. To form it, sticks, 

 sods, earthy rubbish, hay, moss, &c., are collected. 

 The eggs are two in number, and Wilson men- 

 tions a story about the female laying a single 

 egg first, and, after having sat on it for some 

 time, laying another. When the first is hatched, 

 the warmth of that, they say, hatches the second. 

 Upon the correctness of this tale, Wilson declines 

 to determine ; but he relates, that a very respect- 

 able gentleman in Virginia assured him that he 

 saw a large tree cut down, containing the nest of 

 a bald eagle, wherein were two young, one of 

 which appeared nearly three times as large as 

 the other. One of these nestlings might have 

 had the lion's share of the food brought by the 

 parents ; but the story of the hatching at long 

 intervals is so contrary to all known rules of incu- 

 bation, that it must be received with the greatest 

 doubt. 



We must leave the grand native solitudes 

 where this eagle constructs his eyry, for the cab- 

 ined, cribbed, confined cell, where our poor pris- 

 oners did their best to obey nature's law. 



The female began to sit on her eggs on the 8th 

 of April, and the pair were seen by hundreds 

 steadily persevering, notwithstanding the gaze of 

 the visitors, from day to day, in a close incubation 

 till the 6th of June, when the worthless eggs were 

 removed. The male was very attentive to the 

 female, and both took their regular turns in sitting. 

 Their entire want of success seems, however, t 



