THE HARPY EAGLE. 49' 



session and their readiness to attack every one indiscriminate. y, ob- 

 serves that when living prey (as Hares, Rabbits, or Cats) are thrown 

 to them, the animal is "instantly pounced on by a stroke behind the 

 head and another about the region of the heart, the bill appearing 

 never to be used but for the purpose of tearing up the prey when- 

 dead." It is precisely in this manner that the Harpy Eagle deal* 

 with his victims; death seems the work of an instant; the stronger 

 Cat, powerless in his grasp, is clutched, and expires. Nor will this* 

 surprise any one who has contemplated the power seated in the talona 

 of this bird; strong as are the talons of the Golden Eagle, great as iu 

 the muscular development of its limbs, and formidable as are it 

 claws, they seem almost trifling compared with those of the Harpy 

 Eagle. In the museum of the Zoological Society are skeletons of 

 both these birds, which it is interesting to compare together. The 

 thickness of the bones of the limbs in the latter, and especially of the 

 tarsus, which is more than double that of the Golden Eagle, and the 

 enormous size of the talons, are sufficient to convince the observer of 

 the ease with which, when living, the fierce bird would bury its 

 sharp-hooked claws in the vitals of its prey, and how vain resistance 

 when the fatal grasp was taken. In its native regions the Harpy 

 Eagle is said to be by no means common; were it so, the destruction, 

 occasioned by its presence would, it might be naturally expected, 

 preponderate over the renovation of the species which constitute its 

 habitual food, and the balance which nature has established between 

 the destroyed and the destroying, the sanguinary and their victims, 

 be thus disarranged. No doubt that, as is the case with all carnivo- 

 rous animals, its numerical ratio in a given space is proportionate 

 to that of the animals on which it is destined habitually to feed. 

 Where the Sloth is most abundant, there will most abound the 

 Harpy Eagle. 



The general color of this noble bird is slate black ; the head is light 

 slate-gray, passing into dusky-black on the crest; the under parts are 

 white, with a broad band of dark slate color across the chest. The 

 .ail is barred with black and slate color. The beak and claws are 

 ^laok ; the tarsi yellow. 



THE SEA EAGLE 



In comparison with the flight of the True Eagle, the movements of 

 the Haliaeta in the air are slow and heavy ; upon the ground, however, 

 it moves with great facility, and can dive to a certain depth. In the 

 development of its senses it is not inferior to its more noble relatives, 

 bat. unlike them, combines so much cruelty and rapacity with its 

 courage as to deprive its disposition of that majesty popularly attributed 

 to the King of Birds. The breeding season commences about March, 

 and though each male has but one mate during its entire life, many and 

 frequent are the battles that arise about the possession of these often 

 very hardly-earned partners. Two male Eagles will fight almost incess- 

 antly, falling upon each other with beak and claws, and rolling upon 

 the ground until their feathers fly in all directions and blood flows. 



