THE EAGLE. 7^ 



by them a lamb, a hare, and three heath-pouts. 

 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, hav- 

 ing a white ring about the tail." Such is the 

 place w r here the female eagle deposits her eggs, 

 which seldom exceed two at a time in the larger 

 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 

 incapable 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 strongly 

 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 capti- 

 vity, 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 preventing 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 



