ORDER ACCIPITRES. 223 



his peers in one glorious campaign, than all the carnivora from 

 one end of the earth to the other among all the living tribes. 



Among the lower animals, as in savage and uncivilized na- 

 tions, where the intellectual faculties are but slightly developed, 

 strength and courage are the surest titles to supremacy. If, 

 then, the pre-eminent possession of the characteristic faculties 

 of its class,' and the resistless exercise of them in the element 

 which constitutes its domain, give any animal a claim to ex- 

 clusive superiority, the empire of the eagle cannot be dis- 

 puted by any of the denizens of the air. Shooting impe- 

 tuously on untiring wing to an incommensurable distance, 

 or sailing majestically above the mountain and the cloud, he 

 assumes his native place among the feathered tribes ; and 

 none can escape his pursuit, or rival his elevation. No other 

 bird can cross his path on high ; all remain humbly in the 

 lower regions, forming a graduated scale down to the penguin, 

 which is provided only with the rudiments of the organs 

 essential to the capacity of flight. The eagle is distinguished 

 by a lofty mien, an eye of piercing vivacity, a bold assured 

 gait, and a general expression of commanding nobleness. 

 That this magnificent bird should be classed among the ignoble, 

 by the professors of falconry, because he disdains a subser- 

 vience to the caprices of man, is one proof among many of 

 the proneness of human selfishness to the perversion of words. 



The eagles are monogamous : they ordinarily subsist on 

 living prey, and never touch the dead, except when ready to 

 perish with hunger. Their admirable power of vision enables 

 them to distinguish their prey at an immense distance ; they 

 rush upon it with the velocity of an arrow, tear it instantly, and 

 carry it off in their talons, except when it$ weight is unusually 

 considerable. 



The broad and flat nest constructed by the eagles, between 

 rocks and large trees, is called an eyrie. The female usually 

 lays two, and but seldom, three eggs, which she hatches for 

 thirty days. This nest remains, and continues to answer the 



