THE EAGLE. 



475 



well sideways as above ; for the nest is flat, 

 (hough built with great labour. It is said 

 that the same nest serves the eagle during 

 life ; and indeed the pains bestowed in form- 

 ing it seems to argue as much. One of these 

 was found in the Peak of Derbyshire ; which 

 Willoughby thus describes. " It was made 

 of great sticks, resting one end on the edge 

 of a rock, the other on two birch trees. Upon 

 these was a layer of rushes, and over them a 

 layer of heath, and upon the heath rushes again; 

 upon which lay one young one, and an addle 

 egg; and by them a lamb, a hare, and three 

 heath-poults. The nest was about two yards 

 square, and had no hollow in it. The young 

 eagle was of the shape of a goshawk, of 

 almost the weight of a goose, rough footed, 

 or feathered down to the foot, having a white 

 ring about the tail." Such is the place where 

 the female eagle deposits her eggs ; which 

 seldom exceed two at a time in the largest 

 species, and not above three in the smallest. 

 It is said that she hatches them for thirty 

 days: but frequently, even of this small 

 number of eggs, a part is addled ; and it is 

 extremely rare to find three eaglets in the 

 same nest. It is asserted, that as soon as the 

 young ones are somewhat grown, the mother 

 kills the most feeble or the most voracious. 

 If this happens, it must proceed only from 

 the necessities of the parent, who is incapa- 

 ble of providing for their support; and is 

 content to sacrifice a part to the welfare of all. 

 The plumage of the eaglets is not so strong- 

 ly marked as when they come to be adult. 

 They are at first white; then inclining to 

 yellow ; and at last of a light brown. Age, 

 hunger, long captivity, and diseases, make 

 them whiter. It is said, they live above a 

 hundred years; and that they at last die, not 

 of old age, but from the beaks turning inward 

 upon the under mandible, and thus prevent- 

 ing their taking any food. They are equally 

 remarkable, says Mr. Pennant, for their 

 longevity, and for their power of sustaining a 

 long abstinence from food. One of this 

 species, which has now been nine years in 

 the possession of Mr. Owen Holland, of Con- 

 way, lived thirty-two years with the gentle- 

 man who made him a present of it ; but what 

 its age was when the latter received it from 

 Ireland, is unknown. The same bird also 



NO. 41 & 42. 



furnishes a proof of the truth of the other re- 

 mark ; having once, through the neglect of 

 servants,endured hunger for twenty-one days, 

 without any sustenance whatever. 



Those eagles which are kept tame, are fed 

 with every kind of flesh, whether fresh or 

 corrupting; and when there is a deficiency 

 of that, bread, or any other provision, will 

 suffice. It is very dangerous approaching 

 them if not quite tame ; and they sometimes 

 send forth a loud piercing lamentable cry, 

 which renders them still more formidable. 

 The eagle drinks but seldom; and perhaps, 

 when at liberty, not at all, as the blood of its 

 prey serves to quench its thirst. The eagle's 

 excrements are always soft and moist, and 

 tinged with that whitish substance w-hich, as 

 was said before, mixes in birds with the 

 urine. 



Such are the general characteristics and 

 habitudes of the eagle; however, in some 

 these habitudes differ, as the Sea Eagle and 

 the Osprey live chiefly upon fish, and con- 

 sequently build their nests on the sea-shore, 

 and by the sides of rivers on the ground 

 among reeds; and often lay three or four eggs, 

 rather less than those of a hen, of a white 

 elliptical form. They catch their prey, 

 which is chiefly fish, by darting down upon 

 them from above. The Italians compare the 

 violent descent of these birds on their prey 

 to the fall of lead into water; and call them 

 aquila piombina, or the Leaden eagle. 



Nor is the bald eagle, which is an in- 

 habitant of North Carolina, less remarkable 

 for habits peculiar to itself. These birds 

 breed in that country all the year round. 

 When the eaglets are just covered with down, 

 and a sort of white woolly feathers, the female 

 eagle lays again. These eggs are left to be 

 hatched by the warmth of the young ones 

 that continue in the nest; so that the flight of 

 one brood makes room for the next that are 

 but just hatched. These birds fly very 

 heavily ; so that they cannot overtake their 

 prey, like others of the same denomination. 

 To remedy this, they often attend a sort of 

 fishing-hawk, which they pursue, and strip the 

 plunderer of its prey. This is the more re- 

 markable, as this hawk flies swifter than they. 

 These eagles also generally attend upon 

 fowlers in the winter ; and when any birds 

 4 A 



