44 VKUTEBRATA. 



♦'Tlu'Sf i.n>(l!it(>rv attacks ami defonsive niaiicuvors of tlic eagle and the fish-hawk, are matters 

 of daily observation aloni; the wlujle of our sea-hoanl, from Georgia to New England, and fre- 

 quently excite great interest in the spectators. Sympathy, however, on this, as on most other 

 occjisions <n'nerally sides with the honest and laborious sufterer, in opposition to the attack of 

 power, injustice, and rapacity — qualities for which our hero is so generally notoiious, and which, 

 in his sujH'rior, 7»in>, are certainly detestable. As for the feelings of the poor fish, they seem alto- 

 gether out of the question. 



" When driven, as he sometimes is, by the combined courage and perseverance of the fish-hawks, 

 fn>Mi th< ir neighborhood, and forced to hunt for liimself, he retires more inland, in search of 

 young pigs, of which he destroys great numbers. In the lower parts of Virginia and Nortli Caro- 

 lina, where the inhalutants raise vast herds of these animals, complaints of this kind are very 

 general against him. He also de troys young lambs in the early part of spring; and will some- 

 times attack old sickly sheep, aiming furiously at their eyes." 



Mr. J. L. Gardiner, addressing Wilson, writes thus : — "The bald eagles remain on Long Island 

 during the whole winter. They can be most easily discovered on evenings, by their loud snoring 

 while asleep on high oak-trees ; and, when awake, their hearing seems to be nearly as good as 

 their sitjht. I think I mentioned to you, that I had myself seen one flying with a lamb ten days 

 old, and which it dropped on the ground from about ten or twelve feet high. The struggling of 

 the lamb, more than its weight, prevented its carrying it away. My running, hallooing, and 

 being very nigh, might prevent its completing its design. It had broken the back in the act of 

 seizing it ; and I was under the necessity of killing it outright to prevent its misery. The lamb's 

 dam seemed astonished to see its innocent offspring borne off into the air by a bird. 



" I was lately told by a man of truth, that he saw an eagle rob a hawk of its fish, and the 

 hawk seemed so enraged as to fly down at the eagle, while the eagle very dehberately, in the air, 

 threw himself partly over on his back, and, while he grasped with one foot the fish, extended the 

 other to threaten or seize the hawk. I have known several hawks unite to attack the eagle; but 

 never knew a sinsfle one to do it. The eao-le seems to regard the hawks as the hawks do the 



O O CI' 



kingbirds — only as teasing, troublesome fellows." 



"The intrepidity of character, mentioned above," continues Wilson, "may be further ilhistrated 

 by the following fact, which occurred a few years ago, near Great Egg Harbor, 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 sudden and extraordinary rushing sound, and a scream from her 

 child, alarmed her, and, starting \ip, she beheld the infant thrown down, and dragged some few 

 feet, and a large bald eagle bearing ofl" a fragment of its frock, which being the only part seized, 

 and giving way, pro^^dentially 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 favorable occasions. 

 Ducks, geese, gulls, and other sea-fowl, are also seized with avidity. The most putrid carrion, 

 when nothing better can be had, is acceptable ; and the collected groups of gormandizing 

 vultures, on the approach of this dignified personage, instantly disj^erse, and make way for 

 their master, waiting his departure in sullen silence, and at a respectful distance, on the adja- 

 cent trees. 



"In one of those partial migrations of tree-squirrels that sometimes take place in our western 

 forests, many thousands of them were drowned in attempting to cross the Ohio ; and at a certain 

 place, not far from ^Yheeling, a prodigious number of their dead bodies were floated to the shore 

 by an eddy. Here the vultures assembled in great force, and had regaled themselves for some 

 time, when a bald eagle made his appearance, and took sole possession of the premises, keeping 

 the whole vultures at their proper distance for several days. He has also been seen navigating 

 the same river on a floating carrion, though scarcely raised above the surface of the water, and 

 tugging at the carcass, regardless of snags, sawyers, planters, or shallows. He sometimes carries 

 his tyranny to great extremes against the vultures. In hard times, when feed happens to be 

 scarce, should he accidentally meet with one of these which has its craw crammed with carrion, he 



