AVES—EAGLE. A435 
inches long, and of a deep blue ; and the eye of a very brilliant hazel color. 
The sight and sense of smelling are very acute. The head and neck are 
clothed with narrow, sharp-pointed feathers, of a deep brown color bordered 
with tawny; but those on the crown of the head, in very old birds, turn 
gray. The whole body, above as well as beneath, is of a dark brown; and 
the feathers of the back are finely clouded with a deeper shade of the same. 
The wings when clothed reach to the end of the tail. The quill feathers 
are of a chocolate color, the shafts white. The tail is of a deep brown, 
irregularly barred and blotched with an obscure ash color, and usually white 
at the roots of the feathers. The legs are yellow, short, and very strong, 
being three inches in circumference, and feathered to the very feet. The 
toes are covered with large scales, and armed with the most formidable 
claws, the middle of which are two inches long. 

This eagle inhabits the highest mountains of the north of Europe and 
America, and preys on fawns, lambs, hares, and large birds. It soars to a 
prodigious height. An individual was kept at Vienna, which lived one 
hundred and four years. 
In general all eagles are found in the mountainous and ill peepled countries, 
and breed among the loftiest cliffs. They choose those places which are 
remotest from man, upon whose possessions they but seldom make their 
depredations, being contented rather to follow the wild game in the forest, 
an to risk their safety to satisfy their hunger. 
It requires great patience and much art to tame an eagle; and even 
though taken young, and brought under by long assiduity, yet still it isa 
dangerous domestic, and often turns its force against its master. When 
brought into the field for the purposes of fowling, the falconer is never sure 
