166 WHITE-HEADED EAGLE. 



death seemed to have lost little of its lustre. No wounds were perceivable 

 on its body. 



The White-headed Eagle is seldom seen alone, the mutual attachment 

 which two individuals form Avhen they first pair seeming to continue un- 

 til one of them dies or is destroyed. They hunt for the support of each 

 other, and seldom feed apart, but usually drive oiF other birds of the same 

 species. They commence their amatory intercourse at an earlier period 

 than any other land bird with which I am acquainted, generally in the 

 month of December. At this time, along the Mississippi, or by the mar- 

 gin of some lake not far in the interior of the forest, the male and female 

 birds are observed making a great bustle, flying about and circling in va^ 

 rious ways, uttering a loud cackling noise, alighting on the dead branches 

 of the tree on which their nest is already preparing, or in the act of being 

 repaired, and caressing each other. In the beginning of January incu- 

 bation commences. I shot a female, on the 17th of that month, as she 

 sat on her eggs, in which the chicks had made considerable progress. 



The nest, which in some instances is of great size, is usually placed 

 on a very tall tree, destitute of branches to a considerable height, but by 

 no means always a dead one. It is never seen on rocks. It is composed 

 of sticks, from three to five feet in length, large pieces of turf, rank weeds, 

 and Spanish moss in abundance, whenever that substance happens to be 

 near. When finished, it measures from five to six feet in diameter, and 

 so great is the accumulation of materials, that it sometimes measures the 

 same in depth, it being occupied for a great number of years in succes- 

 sion, and receiving some augmentation each season. When placed in a 

 naked tree, between the forks of the branches, it is conspicuously seen at 

 a great distance. The eggs, which are from two to four, more commonly 

 two or three, are of a dull white colour, and equally rounded at both 

 ends, some of them being occasionally granulated. Incubation lasts for 

 more than three weeks, but I have not been able to ascertain its precise 

 duration, as I have observed the female on different occasions sit for a 

 few days in the nest, before laying the first egg. Of this I assured my- 

 self by climbing to the nest every day in succession, during her tempo- 

 rary absence, — a rather perilous undertaking when the bird is sitting. 



I have seen the young birds when not larger than middle-sized pullets. 

 At this time, they are covered with a soft cottony kind of down, their 

 bill and legs appearing disproportionately large. Their first plumage is 

 of a greyish colour, mixed with brown of different depths of tint, and be- 



