{ II ) 



THE EAGLE, and its A F F I N I T I E S. 



OF thefe the GoVJen Eagle is the largeft. Weighs twelve to eighteen 

 pounds. 11 is length three feet to three and a half; extent of 

 wings, feven feet to eight and a halfj bill three inches long, deep 

 blue colour; eye hazel. His fjgHt and fmell very acute. Head and 

 neck clothed with narrow fharp-pointed feathers, deep brown bordered 

 with tawney ; thofe on the crown of the head, by age, become grey. The 

 body throughout, is dark brown j the back feathers clouded with 

 a deeper fhade. Wings reach to the end of the tail ; The quill feathers are 

 chocolate colour, the fhafts white. Tail deep brown, barred and blotched 

 with obfcure afh-colour, ufually white at the roots of the feathers. 

 Legs yellow, fhort, very ftrong, three inches in circunnference, feathered 

 to the very feet. Toes covered with large fcales, armed with formidable 

 claws, the middle one two inches long. 



Found in mountainous and ill-peopled countries ; breed among the lof- 

 tieft cliffs, the fame neft ferves them for life. Powerful but magnanimous, 

 difdains fmaller plunder j nor, till after long provocation, punifh s the 

 teazings of the rook or the magpie. Difdains to ihare the plunder of 

 another bird : never (loops to carrion ; never returns to the fame carcafs. 

 Solitary, keeps the defcrt to himfelf ; of fparkling eyes; ftror-g breach; 

 loud and terrifying cry; fierce, proud, not eafily tamed, even by ^reat pa- 

 tience and much art: though taken young, and fubdued by long alfiduity, 

 flill dangerous, and often to its matter. If, when let Icofe, it tirtl (loop 

 toward the ground, then rife perpendicularly into the clouds, it quits its 

 domefticity for ever; but if brought to an attachment for its feeder,, is 

 highly ferviceable, both for pleafure and profit : will hunt not only 

 game, but the fox, or v^olf. 



Of all birds flies higheft, and has the quickefl eye (but his fmell far 

 inferior to the vulture). Purfues by fight. When he has feized his prey, 

 floops from his height, as if to poife its weight: always lays it on the 

 ground before he carries it off. Finds it difficult to rife when down ; 

 feizes geefe, cranes, hares, lambs, and kids ; often deilroys fawns and 

 calves, drinks their blood, and carries part .of their flefli to his retreat. 

 Infants have been deftroyed by them. Smith, in his hiflory of Kerry, re- 

 lates, that a poor man in that country got a comfortable fubfiltence for 

 his family, during a fummer of famine, out of an eaglt's neft, by rob- 

 bing the eaglets of food, clipping their wings, and retarding their fight. 

 Part IV. No. 25. C Her 



