EAGLE. 



349 



EAGLE (Aqiu/a). A genus of accipitres or rapa- 

 cious birds, belonging to the division of diurnal prey- 

 ers, and included in the great genus Frt/<:<> of tiio 

 older naturalises. But their characters are not only 

 sufficient for ranking- them as a separate genus, but 

 might in strict system warrant the separation of them 

 into two or more genera or subgcnera, at least if the 

 classification were to be made 1 very minutely charac- 

 teristic of their habits. This part of the subject is, 

 however, foreign to our plan ; and as their relation to 

 the rest of the rapacious birds, and some of their 

 structural peculiarities have been noticed in the arti- 

 cles Act ii'iTKiis, Aiiirn.A, and JIKI>, we may restrict 

 this article to the peculiarities of the leading species, 

 of which we shall endeavour to give a popular 

 account, as brief, but at the same time as comprehen- 

 sive as our limits will admit. 



The eagle among birds, like the lion among beasts, 

 has long got credit for qualities which it does not 

 possess, and which it could not possess without a 

 direct violation of the system and purpose of nature. 

 As the lion was named and described as the king of 

 beasts, the monarch of the forest and the wild, so the 

 was elevated to the government of the sky, and 

 made the queen, or rather (for they gave to the male 

 that superiority which really belongs to the female) 

 the king of the feathered race. Not only this, but as 

 the eagle is capable of soaring aloft, it was made the 

 companion of the Gods, the constant associate of 

 Jupiter himself, and in some sort the emblem of his 

 power ; and now that Jupiter has gone the way of all 

 idols, and the eagle still remains in localities which 

 generally ha\e a great deal of wild grandeur and rude 

 sublimity about them, the eagle has become the 

 monument of her fabled master, arid is still " the bird 

 of Jove.'' 



In so far as natural history is concerned, those 

 fables are as absurd as they are difficult to be got rid 

 of by those who are fond of romancing ; but they 

 have their use in throwing light upon the feelings of 

 men in the more rude and early stages of human 

 society. The eagle, like the lion, was gratuitously 

 endowed with a great many virtues, being set down 

 as the most courageous, the most noble-minded, and 

 the most generous of birds, as one in short who 

 could do nothing at all calculated to lessen the 

 majesty of a monarch. Whereas, in fact, unless in 

 so tar as that instinct which has been given them in 

 order that they might answer these appointed pur- 

 poses in wild nature, prompts them to kill and eat, 

 eagles are not only indolent, but they are, in reality, 

 cowardly birds ; that is, when their purpose is accom- 

 plished, they seek retirement, and relapse into a state 

 of perfect inaction. That they must have done so 

 in the early stages of their history, the same as at 

 the present time, docs not admit of any doubt ; for 

 how much soever the dispositions and opinions of 

 men may improve, or fall off in the course of those 

 fluctuations, with the accounts of which the annals of 

 the race are chequered, the other animals have no 

 opinions, and partake not either of the improvement 

 or of the falling off, in consequence of any direct 

 influence of the human race, in one way or another. 

 It is, no doubt true, that when society improves, and 

 extends its arts and its cultivation, so as to require 

 protection to cultivated vegetables from those animals 

 upon which the predatory tribes feed, and protection 

 to those domesticated animals on which the others 

 would feed, the predatory races fall off in numbers, 



and ultimately become extinct, before the progress of 

 human art. 



This fact, and any one who attends to the evidence, 

 will be able to discover that it really belongs to the 

 system of nature, and is not brought about by human 

 exertions in exterminating the animals, though this 

 may in many cases assist, is sufficient to convince any 

 one that there is really an opposition between those 

 destroying animals and man, viewing him even simply 

 in the light of a consumer of the fruits of the earth, 

 that, when man is not there, and nature is yet boun- 

 tiful in consequence of the elements of fertility 

 abounding in any place, those powerful animals, 

 whether they prey upon the earth, in the air, or in 

 the waters, are an essential part of the exuberance 

 of wild nature, and have important functions to 

 perform in its economy. If we may so express it, 

 when the locality is of that generous and bountiful 

 character, in which it would best reward the labours 

 of the cultivators, but is yet without the cultivator 

 to earn and to enjoy the reward, the lion, the eagle, 

 the wolf, or whatever may be the predatory animal 

 whose structure and habits are best adapted to the 

 place, is really in the character of locum tcncns for 

 man ; and in this respect it may be considered as the 

 keeper of wild nature for man, until he shall have 

 arrived at the majority of knowledge and of art, and 

 shall be able to take the government on his own 

 shoulders, and prevent the bounty of nature from 

 being lost, at the same time that he makes his own 

 advances in intelligence and enjoyment. 



Such being the case, all attributing to animals of any 

 disposition in any way analogous either to any virtue or 

 to any vice of man, and all attributing to them of any 

 plan or purpose, or any combining together, for the- 

 weal or the woe of each other, according to any fore- 

 thought plan, is an error in principle, tending to jumble 

 together the conduct of irrational and irresponsible 

 creatures, and the conduct of rational and respon- 

 sible man : and thus, not only destroying the philo- 

 sophy of both in a natural history point of view, but 

 laying a sure foundation for scepticism and doubt, by 

 shaking man's belief in the existence of his immortal 

 spirit and thereby laying the axe to the root of all 

 sound morality, all conduct upon principle, and all 

 hope that the mental acquirements, which man obtains 

 in this life shall not be lost, and buried with him in 

 the grave for ever. 



The extent of mischief which has been done by 

 publishing those groundless analogies between the 

 irrational animals and the human race, is incalculable ; 

 and, unfortunately, this mischief is not confined to 

 those who, in the waywardness of a wandering philo- 

 sophy, or in the dread of future punishment, which 

 they seem conscious that they deserve, attack the 

 hopes of immortality avowedly, or with the purpose 

 proclaimed in the preceding view, how much soever 

 the parties may strive to hide it. Were it confined to 

 these, its pernicious effects would be within a compass 

 comparatively narrow ; and the avowment or even 

 the implication of such a purpose, would destroy the 

 bad effect ; because the world would see that such 

 arguers had motives and grounds which they con- 

 cealed, and did not fully and fairly examine the whole 

 state of things, and draw their conclusions, and form 

 their judgments from this examination. When, how- 

 ever, the general tone, and even the avowed purpose 

 is to maintain the doctrines upon which these false 

 analogies are calculated to cast doubt, the doubt so 



