THE BALD-HEADED EAGLE. 533 



tlie two great masters of American ornithology, Audubon and 

 Wilson ; and as it is not easy to improve upon the language of 

 those who were at the same time good observers and practised 

 writers, their accounts will be given in their own words. The 

 reader will perceive that the two histories are placed side by 

 side, because the points that are omitted by one are supplied 

 by the other. 



I may mention that the term " bald-headed," as applied to 

 this splendid bird, is by no means correct, because the head is 

 feathered as densely as any other part of the body ; but as the 

 head of the adult bird is white, it produces an effect, when 

 viewed at a distance, as if it were deprived altogether of feathers, 

 and covered with a white skin. The following account is by 

 Wilson : — 



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

 attachment which two individuals form when they first pair 

 seeming to continue until one of them dies or is destroyed. 

 They hunt for the support of each other, and seldom feed apart, 

 but usually drive off 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 margin 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 

 various ways, uttering a loud cackling noise, alighting on the 

 dead branches of the tree on which their nest is already pre- 

 paring, or in the act of being repaired, and caressing each other. 

 In the beginning of January, incubation commences. I shot 

 a female, on the 17th of that month, as she sat on her e^s, on 

 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 1^ 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 sue- 



