122 AERIAL ENCOUNTER OF 
AERIAL ENCOUNTER OF THE EAGLE AND 
THE VULTURE. 
Next to the adventure of the rattlesnake and 
squirrel, in which Audubon informs us that he saw 
a rattlesnake swallow a large American squirrel, 
tail foremost, I am of opinion that this presents the 
toughest morsel ever offered to the proverbially 
wide gullet of John Bull. Audubon says : —‘“ Many 
vultures were engaged in devouring the-body and 
entrails of a dead horse, when a white-headed eagle 
accidentally passing by, the vultures all took to 
wing, one, amongst the rest, with a portion of the 
entrails, partly swallowed, and the remaining part, 
about a yard in length, dangling in the air. The 
eagle instantly marked him, and gave chase. The 
poor vulture tried, in vain, to disgorge, when the 
eagle, coming up, seized the loose end of the gut, 
and dragged the bird along for twenty or thirty 
yards, much against its will, till both fell to the 
ground; when the eagle struck the vulture, and in 
a few moments killed it, after which he swallowed 
the delicious morsel.” In his strange paper on the 
habits of the turkey buzzard, Mr. Audubon tells us 
“that if the object discovered is large, lately dead, 
and covered with a skin too tough to be ate and 
torn asunder (cart before the horse), and afford 
free scope to their appetites, they remain about it 
and in the neighbourhood.” Now, reader, observe, 
