THE EAGLE. 



Great Sea Eagles. 



White headed Eagle. 



AnOwL 



The Great Sea Eagle is an inhabitant of nearly the whole of Europe and of Northern Asia. It some- 

 times builds its nests in the clefts of rocks, but more frequently on the summit of some lofty tree. The 

 female lays two eggs, about the same size and shape as those of a goose. The young are fed with fish or 

 flesh until they are able to quit the nest, when th.ey sally forth 

 with their parents in quest of their own prey, and speedily , £ ^^p 

 assume an independent mode of life. 



The White-headed, or Bald Eagle is usually spoken of as 

 inhabiting the northern parts both of the Old and New Con- 

 tinent ; but it appears to be only a rare and occasional visitant 

 of the former. Throughout nearly the whole of North America, 

 on the contrary, it is met with in great abundance, as well on 

 the sea coast, as on the banks of the broad lakes and rapid 

 rivers, from which the chief part of its sustenance is derived. 

 The great Cataract of Niagara is mentioned as one of its 

 favorite places of resort, not merely as a fishing station where 

 it is enabled to satiate its hunger upon its most congenial food, 

 but also in consequence of the vast quantity of four-footed 

 beasts, which unwarily venturing into the stream above, are 

 borne away by the torrent and precipitated down those tre- 

 mendous falls. His most common method of obtaining food, 

 consists in snatching from the Fish-Hawk the hard-earned 

 morsel for which the latter has watched and toiled in vain. 

 Sometimes, however, the Fish-Hawks assemble in bands too 

 numerous for him to encounter, and he is driven to hunt for 

 himself. He then usually retires inland, and occasionally 

 destroys great numbers of young pigs and lambs. At other 

 times he contents himself with fowl; and ducks, geese, and 

 gulls fall victims to his insatiable appetite. Its nest is com- 

 monly built on the top of a large tree, generally a pine or a 

 cypress, and growing in the midst of a morass. 



Eagle. 



.'.:ig!e 



Great Sea Eagle's Nest 



(206) 



