50 WHITE-HEADED EAGLE. 



appearance, and the note that accompanied it, seems to have 

 belonged to a very formidable individual. " It was shot," says 

 Mr. Gardiner, " last winter, on this island, and weighed thir- 

 " teen pounds, measured three feet in length, and seven from 

 " tip to tip of the expanded wings; was extremely fierce look- 

 " ing; though wounded, would turn his back to no one; fasten- 

 " ed his claws into the head of a dog, and was with difficulty 

 " disengaged. I have rode on horseback within five or six 

 " rod of one, who, by his bold demeanour, raising his feathers, 

 " &c. seemed willing to dispute the ground with its owner, 

 " The crop of the present was full of mutton from my part- 

 " blood Merinos; and his intestines contained feathers, which 

 " he probably devoured with a duck, or winter gull, as I ob- 

 " served an entire foot and leg of some water fowl. I had two 

 " killed previous to this which weighed ten pounds avoirdu- 

 " poiseach." 



The intrepidity of character, mentioned above, may be far- 

 ther illustrated by the following fact, which occurred a few 

 years ago, near Great Egg-harbour, New Jersey. A woman 

 who happened to be weeding in the garden, had set her child 

 down near, to amuse itself while she was at work; when a sud- 

 den and extraordinary rushing sound, and a scream from her 

 child alarmed her, and starting up, she beheld the infant thrown 

 down and dragged some few feet, and a large Bald Eagle bear- 

 ing off a fragment of its frock, which being the only part seized, 

 and giving way, providentially saved the life of the infant. 



The appetite of the Bald Eagle, though habituated to long 

 fasting, is of the most voracious, and often the most indelicate 

 kind. Fish, when he can obtain them, are preferred to all 

 other fare. Young lambs and pigs are dainty morsels, and 

 made free with on all favourable occasions. Ducks, geese, 

 gulls, and other sea-fowl, are also seized with avidity. The 

 most putrid carrion, when nothing better can be had, is ac- 

 ceptable; and the collected groups of gormandizing Vultures, 

 on the approach of this dignified personage, instantly disperse,. 



