66 THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 



eagle are moved, that a dried foot may be made to act 

 powerfully by pulling the tendons, long after it has 

 been dead ; and the tendons themselves are among the 

 toughest of natural substances. There is considerable 

 dignity in the repose of the eagle; she usually sits upon 

 a pinnacle of rock, where she can command an ex- 

 tensive view ; and the head is often recurvated, so that 

 one eye is directed to the front, and the other to the 

 rear. The knobs on the under part of the toes pre- 

 vent any injury from the roughest rock, and take a 

 firm hold of the most slippery : so that the eagle on 

 her two feet seems as firmly based as most quadrupeds 

 do on four. The hold which she thus takes of the 

 surface, and the powerful action of the muscles that 

 move the toes, give her another advantage ; for by 

 those combined powers, she can throw herself with a 

 bound into the air, at the same time that she expands 

 her wings, and thus, contrary to the vulgar belief, rear 

 usually from level ground. When, however, the eagle 

 has been feeding in any other place than near her 

 abode, she shows an unwillingness to rise. As she is 

 so constituted as to be able to bear hunger four or five 

 weeks, her feeding is voracious in proportion ; and as, 

 notwithstanding that she shows considerable adroit- 

 ness in plucking birds, and skinning quadrupeds, she 

 always swallows, more or less, of the indigestible 

 exumce, as well as the bones of the smaller prey, her 

 meal is heavy. This, in all probability, has given rise 

 to the vulgar opinion. 



The following description of the adult female, given 

 in Selby's admirable work on " British Ornithology," 

 is accurate : Bill bluish at the base, the tip black. 



