EAGLES AND ART- 269 



The next day an equal quantity of white arsenic was given 

 him, without any greater effect ; so that in the end the re- 

 fractory bird was obliged to be put to death by mechanical 

 means." 



In the second, a Golden Eagle was the victim. It had 

 been taken in a fox-trap, on the White Mountains, and was 

 procured alive and in fine condition, by Mr. Audubon, who 

 found it necessary to take its life that he might paint its por- 

 trait. The passage, though long for our space, is so charac- 

 teristic that we cannot refrain from giving it entire. He 

 says: "I occupied myself a whole day in watching his 

 movements ; on the next I came to a determination as to the 

 position in which I might best represent him ; and on the 

 third thought of how I could take away his life with the 

 least pain to him. I consulted several persons on the sub- 

 ject, and among others my most worthy and generous friend, 

 GEORGE PARKMAN, Esq., M.D., who kindly visited my family 

 every day. He spoke of suffocating him by means of burn 

 ing charcoal, of killing him by electricity, &c., and we both 

 concluded that the first method would probably be the easiest 

 for ourselves, and the least painful to him. Accordingly the 

 bird was removed in his prison into a very small room, and 

 closely covered with blankets, into which was introduced a 

 pan of lighted charcoal, when the windows and doors were 

 fastened, and the blankets tucked in beneath the cage. I 

 waited, expecting every moment to hear him fall down from 

 his perch ; but after listening for hours, I opened the door, 

 raised the blankets, and peeped under them amidst a mass 

 of suffocating fumes. There stood the Eagle on his perch, 

 with his bright unflinching eye turned towards me, and as 

 lively and vigorous as ever ! Instantly reclosing every 

 aperture, I resumed my station at the door, and towards 

 midnight, not having heard the least noise, I again took a 

 peep at my victim. He was still uninjured, although the air 

 of the closet was insupportable to my son and myself, and 

 that of the adjoining apartment began to feel unpleasant. I 



