BIRDS. 



511 



repetition to detail them here. The eagle group will be much more 

 interesting. 



In Europe and Asia the Lammergeyer replaces the condor of the Andes, 

 tough stories and all. It is a large bird, more like a vulture than like an 

 eagle in its habits. It makes its home in the high mountains, — the Alps 

 and Pyrenees in Europe, — building its nest usually on some inaccessible 

 cliff. The bird feeds on anything it can pick up, — carrion refuse of all 

 sorts, snakes, and small mammals ; and it is said that it has been known to 

 attack children, but the stories of its carrying babes off to its mountain 

 nest seem to exist only to point a moral or adorn a tale. 



The golden eagle is common to all the northern countries of the globe, 

 reaching south with us to about the thirty -fifth parallel of latitude, but 



Fig. 425. — Bald eagle (Halisetus leucocephalus). 



nowhere is it very common. It is a strong flier, but is excelled in this 

 respect by the bald eagle and many of the hawks. It makes its nest in 

 inaccessible places, and its eggs are among the greatest desiderata of the 

 collectors. 



The better known is the bald eagle, which, as has often been insisted 

 upon, is not bald at all, but merely lias a crown of white feathers. Still the 

 name bald eagle will remain in spite of every protest of the purists and 

 every attempt to foist the name of white-headed eagle upon the bird. 

 This is the species which has been chosen as our national emblem ; a most 

 unfortunate choice, if character is to count for anything. It is a cowardly 

 bird ; not over-choice in the matter of food, and at least a little apt to be 

 tyrannical, or even piratical when opportunity offers. Listen for a moment 



