SUPPLEMENT. 



589 



" Their senses of smell and sight are very acute, especially the 

 latter ; and when searching for their prey they soar to a very great 

 height, and, if they chance to see a -wounded animal, they immedi- 

 ately follow and attack it whenever it sinks down. The first-comers 

 are soon followed by others, and it is not long before the body is 

 reduced to a skeleton. Their flight is slow, steady, and graceful, 

 and they glide along with little or no perceptible motion of the 

 wings, the tips of which are curved upward in flying, in the manner 

 of the Turkey Buzzard. They are said to appear most numerous 

 and to soar the highest preceding thunder-storms and tempests." — 

 North American Birds. 



The nest is composed of a few loose sticks, generally situated 

 in the crevice of a rock. The total length of the California Vul- 

 ture is forty-five to fifty inches ; extent of wings, about nine or 

 ten feet. 



Hauaetds leucocephaiiUS. Bald Eagle. — This is the American 

 Eagle, so called. Audubon says of it : " The figure of this noble bird 

 is well known throughout the civilized world, emblazoned as it is on 

 our national standard, which waves in the breeze of every clime, 

 bearing to distant lands the remembrance of a great people living in 

 a state of peaceful freedom." His great strength, joined to his un- 

 equalled powers of flight, render him highly conspicuous among his 

 brethren. Franklin says : " He is a bird of bad moral character ; 

 he does not get his living honestly. You may have seen him perched 

 on some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches 

 the labor of the Fish Hawk ; and when that diligent bird has at 

 length taken a fish, and is bearing it to , his nest, the Bald Eagle 

 pursues and takes it from him. Besides, he is a rank coward. The 

 little King-bird, not bigger than a Sparrow, attacks him boldly, and 

 drives him out of the district. He is, therefore, by no means a 

 proper emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America, who 

 have driven all the King-birds from our country." Audubon de- 

 scribes and figures a bird which he called the Washington Eagle 

 [Ii. Washingtoni). As no other specimen has been seen, and as the 

 Bald Eagle is known to have a dark-brown plumage during its first 

 years, like that which Audubon considered as characteristic of the 

 Washington bird, it is now thought that his specimen was none other 

 than a remarkably fine and large female of the present species. 

 The white head and tail only appear after several years of moult- 

 ing. 



Wilson gives the following account: "Formed by nature for 



