THE EAGLES 91 



ten slaves, was given by a Mexican Governor to Cortez, the 

 redoubtable Spanish leader. This Eagle, says De Vega, 

 inflicted on Cortez the only wound which he received 

 during his daring expedition in that country. Cortez 

 seems to have brutally struck the bird, injuring it mortally. 

 " Before it resigned itself to death, it raised its head once 

 more, and caught the first finger of the right hand of its 

 cruel master, and bit it through, crushing it completely, so 

 as not to leave the world unavenged." 



When the bird is calm, the grey crest of feathers lies 

 back on the head and neck : when angered, it stands erect, 

 giving the bird a most determined and imposing look. 

 Indeed, a Harpy Eagle standing on the body of its victim, 

 with uplifted crest and blazing eyes, and with its tremendous 

 claws driven deep into its prize, might well serve as a 

 picture of "The Victor," so full of pride, dignity, and 

 triumph does it then appear. 



The BATELEUR EAGLE is an African bird. "With 

 its fiery -red face and feet it is," says one writer, "one of 

 the handsomest birds of prey." When courting, its strange 

 gambollings and posturings are ' as good as a play ' to 

 watch — " a bewildering acrobatic display," one well-known 

 naturalist calls thi-s performance, "seeming to unite in 

 itself all the arts of flight practised by all the other birds 

 of prey." 



Another South African is the MARTIAL HAWK 

 EAGLE. He is not one of the larger members of the 

 Eagle family, but he is, as his portrait shows, a very fine 

 fellow. 



Of the Sea Eagles it is good to know that Great 

 Britain still gives a home to a few surviving pairs of 

 that magnificent bird, the WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. 

 But even these would soon disappear were it not for the 



