593 RAPTOKES, OR BIRDS OF PREY. 



and to bear the load of four or five birds, weighing from seventy 

 to eighty pounds, with the provisions brought for their sustenance. 

 Some Eagles' nests have an area of as much as five feet square. 

 The number of eggs laid is generally two or three, rarely four. 

 Incubation requires thirty days. 



Eaglets being very voracious, the parent birds are compelled 

 to hunt with great assiduity. Nevertheless, should scarcity 

 occur, the young brood do not suffer, for nature has endowed 

 them with the faculty of supporting abstinence for many days. 

 This peculiarity they possess in common with all birds of 

 prey. Buffon mentions an Eagle which, having been taken in 

 a trap, passed five weeks without anything to eat, and did not 

 appear enfeebled until the last eight days. An English author 

 states that for twenty-one days a tame Eagle was not fed, and 

 that the bird appeared to have suffered little from its protracted 

 fast. 



When the young are large enough to provide for their own 

 wants they are pitilessly driven from their paternal home ; they 

 then proceed to an unoccupied district, of which they take posses- 

 sion. 



The Eagle is, as we have before said, endowed with immense 

 muscular vigour ; it is, therefore, able to carry off prey of con- 

 siderable size, such as Geese, Turkeys, Cranes, &c. ; also Hares, 

 Kids, and Lambs. In the mountains in which Chamois are 

 abundant they are the principal objects of the Eagle's pursuit, and 

 it employs various stratagems to get these animals into its power ; 

 for the bird will not venture to make its attack in front, as 

 the Chamois is well able to keep it at a distance with its horns, 

 provided its rear is protected. 



The Eagle sometimes kills its prey with the force of its swoop, 

 without clutching with talons or beak. Again, it is stated that a 

 blow from its wing will deprive a kid of life ; it is not, therefore, 

 surprising that its strength enables it to lift up young children, 

 and carry them off. 



Many for a long period have refused to give credence to this 

 fact ; but the evidence of persons who are worthy of all confidence 

 will not allow of any doubt being raised on the subject. We will, 

 however, mention a few instances. 



