THE EAGLE. 



31 



out horns. A description of one in each kind , 

 will serve for all the rest. 



CHAP. II. 



? 



TITE EAGLE ANt> ITS AFFINITIES. 



THE Golden Eagle is the largest and the 

 noblest of all those birds that have received 

 the name of eagle. It weighs above twelve 



pounds. Iw length is three feet ; the extent 

 of its wings, seven feet four inches ; the bill 

 is three inches long, and of a deep blue colour ; 

 and the eye of a hazel colour. The sight and 

 sense of smelling are very acute. The head 

 and neck are clothed with narrow sharp-pointed 

 feathers, and of a deep brown colour, bordered 

 with tawny ; but those on the crown of the 

 head, in very old birds, turn gray. The whole 

 body, above as well as beneath, is of a dark 

 brown ; and the feathers of the back are finely 

 clouded with a deeper shade of the same. The 

 wings, when clothed, reach to the end of the 

 tail. The quill- feathers are of a chocolate 

 colour, the shafts white. The tail is of a deep 

 brown, irregularly barred and blotched with 

 an obscure ash-colour, and usually white at 

 the roots of the feathers. The legs are yel- 

 low, short, and very strong, being three inches 

 in circumference, and feathered to the very 

 feet. The toes are covered with large scales, 

 and armed with the most formidable claws, 

 the middle of which are two inches long. 



In the rear of this terrible bird follow the 

 ring-tailed eagle, 1 the common eagle, the bald 

 eagle, the white eagle, the hough-footed eagle, 

 the erne, the black eagle, the osprey, the sea 

 eagle, and the crowned eagle. These, and others 

 that might be added, form different shades in 

 this fierce family ; but have all the same ra- 

 pacity, the same general form, the same habits, 

 and the same manner of bringing up their 

 young. 



In general, these birds are found in moun- 

 tainous and ill-peopled countries, and breed 



1 The ring-tailed eagle is now generally believed to be 

 the young of the golden eagle. 



among the loftiest cliffs. They choose those 

 places which are remotest from man, upon 

 whose possessions they but seldom make their 

 depredations, being contented rather to follow 

 the wild game in the forest, than to risk their 

 safety, to satisfy their hunger. 



This fierce animal may be considered among 

 birds, as the lion among quadrupeds ; and in 

 many respects they have a strong similitude 

 to each other. They are both possessed of 

 force, and an empire over-thai* fellows of the 

 forest. Equally magnanimous, they disdain 

 smaller plunder ; and only pursue animals 

 worthy the conquest. It is not till after having 

 been long provoked, by the cries of the rook 

 or the magpie, that this generous bird thinks 

 fit to punish them with death : the eagle also 

 disdains to share the plunder of another bird ; 

 and will take up with no other prey but that 

 which he has acquired by his own pursuits. 

 How hungry soever he may be, he never stoops 

 to carrion ; and when satiated, he never re- 

 turns to the same carcase, but leaves it for 

 other animals, more rapacious and less delicate 

 than he. Solitary, like the lion, he keeps the 

 desert to himself alone ; it is as extraordinary 

 to see two pair of eagles in the same moun- 

 tain, as two lions in the same forest. They 

 keep separate, to find a more ample supply ; 

 and consider the quantity of their game as the 

 best proof of their dominion. Nor does the 

 similitude of these animals stop here : they 

 have both sparkling eyes, and nearly of the 

 same colour ; their claws are of the same form, 

 their breath equally strong, and their cry 

 equally loud and terrifying. Bred both for 

 war, they are enemies of all society : alike 

 fierce, proud, and incapable of being easily 

 tamed. It requires great patience and much 

 art to tame an eagle ; and even though taken 

 young, and brought under by long assiduity, 

 yet still it is a dangerous domestic, and often 

 turns its force against its master. 



When brought into the field for the pur- 

 poses of fowling, the falconer is never sure of 

 its attachment : that innate pride, and love 

 of liberty, still prompt it to regain its native 

 solitudes ; and the moment the falconer sees 

 it, when let loose, first stoop towards the 

 ground, and then rise perpendicularly into the 

 clouds, he gives up all his former labour for 

 lost ; quite sure of never beholding his late 

 prisoner more. Sometimes, however, they 

 are brought to have an attachment for their 

 feeder ; they are then highly serviceable, and 

 liberally provide for his pleasures and support. 

 When the falconer lets them go from his hand, 

 they play about and hover round him till their 

 game presents, which they see at an immense 

 distance, and pursue with certain destruction. 



Of all animals the eagle flies highest ; and 

 from thence the ancients have given him the 



