224 CLASS AVES. 



purposes of the eagle during life, except some accident should 

 destroy it. 



In the eagle tribe, as among all the other birds of prey, the 

 female is larger than the male, and in a state of freedom ap- 

 pears to possess more assurance, courage, and subtlety : she 

 appears, in some species, to have a mutual understanding with 

 the male for the purposes of the chase, and, except when she 

 cannot quit her eggs or little ones, she and the male are ge- 

 nerally observed at no great distance from each other. 



The eagle, especially in a state of captivity, can go a long 

 time without food, Buffon knew one of these birds, of the 

 common species, which had been taken in a snare, to live forty 

 days without any nourishment, and it showed no symptoms of 

 exhaustion but for the last eight days, at the end of which it 

 was killed. This bird, which can quench his thirst with the 

 blood of his victims, can also remain a long time without drink ; 

 but it is a vulgar error to suppose that he never drinks at all. 

 When water is presented to him, he will bathe his plumage in 

 it, and drink like other birds. 



Spallanzani has made a singular remark on the conformation 

 of the internal canal of the eagle. The capacity of the crop to 

 that of the ventricle is as thirty-eight to three, which explains 

 why a single repast is sufficient for these birds for many days ; 

 for, if a large animal becomes their prey, they fill their crop, 

 and digestion proceeds successively, according as some portion 

 of this nutriment passes from the crop into the ventricle or 

 stomach. 



The eagles love to haunt the mountains and the deserts. 

 They are not very frequent in islands, and more especially in 

 those of small extent, because they are less peopled with ani- 

 mals than the terra firma. Such as are more frequently found 

 there, and which build their nests on the shore, are the sea- 

 eagles, which subsist more on fish than game. It was observed 

 that the first eagle seen in the island of Rhodes, perched upon 

 the house of Tiberius as a presage of his future empire. 



