124 WAKE-ROBIN 
ity, alighting in a field near some dead animal, but 
tarried briefly. 
So much by way of identification, The golden 
eagle is common to the northern parts of both hemi- 
spheres, and places its eyrie on high precipitous 
rocks, A pair built on an inaccessible shelf of rock 
along the Hudson for eight successive years. A 
squad of Revolutionary soldiers, also, as related by 
Audubon, found a nest along this river, and had an 
adventure with the bird that came near costing one 
of their number his life. His comrades let him 
down by a rope to secure the eggs or young, when 
he was attacked by the female eagle with such fury 
that he was obliged to defend himself with his 
knife. In doing so, by a misstroke, he nearly sev- 
ered the rope that held him, and was drawn up by 
a single strand from his perilous position. 
The bald eagle, also, builds on high rocks, accord- 
ing to Audubon, though Wilson describes the nest 
of one which he saw near Great Egg Harbor, in the 
top of a large yellow pine. It was a vast pile of 
sticks, sods, sedge, grass, reeds, etc., five or six feet 
high by four broad, and with little or no concavity. 
It had been used for many years, and he was told 
that the eagles made it a sort of home or lodging- 
place in all seasons. 
The eagle in all cases uses one nest, with more 
or less repair, for several years. Many of our com- 
mon birds do the same. The birds may be divided, 
with respect to this and kindred points, into five 
general classes, First, those that repair or appro- 
