128 NATURAL HISTORY. 
219. The nest of the Eagle is made of sticks, twigs, 
etc., and is generally on the ledge of some precipice, as 
seen in Fig. 106. In “The Land and the Book” of 
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Fig. 106.—EKagle and Nest. 
Thomson, he describes very graphically the return of the 
Eagle to its nest. After making several gyrations, it 
poises for a moment, and then, “like a bolt, with wings 
collapsed, down it comes head foremost, and, sinking far 
below its eyrie, it rounds to in a grand parabola, and 
then, with one or two backward flaps of its huge pinions, 
like the wheels of a steam-boat reversed, it lands in safe- 
ty among its clamorous children.” The food of this bird 
consists of sea-birds, the smaller quadrupeds, as hares, 
rabbits, etc., and sometimes lambs, sheep, and even larger 
