THE HARPY EAGLE. 69 
forests remote from the abodes of man. Of its habits, however, in a state 
of nature, we have but little information. It is feared for its great strength 
and fierceness, and is reported not to hesitate in attacking individuals of the 
human race; nay, that instances have been known in which persons have 
fallen a sacrifice, their skulls having been fractured by the blows of its beak 
and talons. This may be an exaggeration, but certainly it would be a haz- 
ardous experiment to venture unarmed near the nest of a pair of these for- 
midable eagles. Hernandez states that this species not only ventures to 
assault man, but even beasts of prey. According to Mendruyt, it makes 
great destruction among the sloths, which tenant the branches of the forest, 
and are ill fitted to resist so formidable an antagonist : it also destroys fawns, 
cavies, opossums, and other quadrupeds, which it carries to its lonely retreat, 
there, in solitude, to satiate its appetite. Monkeys are also to be numbered 
among its victims; but the sloth is said to constitute its ordinary prey. Of 
its nidification we know nothing; as the eagles, however, lay only from two 
to three eggs, it is reasonable to suppose that the present species is not an 
exception to the rule. 
It has been correctly observed by Mr. Selby, that the members of the 
Aquiline division of the raptorial order do not possess the same facility of 
pursuing their prey upon the wing which we see in the falcons and hawks 3 
for, though their flight is very powerful, they are not capable of the rapid 
evolutions that attend the aerial attacks of the above-named groups, in con- 
sequence of which their prey is mostly pounced upon on the ground. The 
shortness of the wings of the Harpy Eagle, when compared with those of 
the Golden Eagle of Europe, and their rounded form and breadth, though 
well adapting them for a continued and steady flight, render them less eff- 
cient as organs of rapid and sudden aerial evolutions than those of the latter ; 
but, as it inhabits the woods, and does not prey upon birds but upon ani- 
mals incapable of saving themselves by flight, its powers of wing (or 
rather the modification of those powers) are in accordance with the circum- 
stances as to food and locality under which it is placed. If the Harpy 
Eagle soars not aloft, hovering over plains and mountains, it threads the 
woods, it skims amidst the trees, and marks the sloth suspended on the 
branch, or the monkey dozing in unsuspicious security; and, with unerring 
aim, strikes its defenceless victims. My. Selby, commenting on the fierce- 
ness of a pair of Golden Eagles in his possession, and their readiness to 
attack every one indiscriminately, observes, 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 deals with 
NO. XIII. 62 
