330 . WHITE-HEADED, OR BALD EAGLE. 
well preserved skin of the Bald Eagle, which, from its app arance, 
and the note that accompanied it, seems to have belonged to a very 
formidable individual. “It was shot,” says Mr. Gardiner, “last win- 
ter, on this island, and weighed thirteen pounds; measured three feet 
in length, and seven from tip to tip of the expanded wings; was ex- 
tremely fierce looking; though wounded, would turn his back to no 
one; fastened his claws into the head of a dog, and was with diffi- 
culty disengaged. I have ridden on horseback within five or six rods 
of one, who, by his bold demeanor, raising his feathers, &c. seemed 
willing to dispute the ground with its owner. The crop of the present 
was full of mutton, from my part blood Merinos; and _his intestines 
contained feathers, which he probably devoured with a Duck, or Win- 
ter Gull, as I observed an entire foot and leg of some water fowl. I 
had two killed previous to this, which weighed ten pounds avoirdupois 
each.” 
The intrepidity of character, mentioned above, may be further 
illustrated by the following fact, which occurred a few years ago, 
near Great Egg Harbor, New Jersey: — A woman, who happened to 
be weeding in the garden, had set her child down near, to amuse 
itself while she was at work; when a sudden and extraordinary 
rushing sound, and a scream from her child, alarmed her, and, starting 
up, she beheld the infant thrown down, and dragged some few feet, 
anda large Bald Eagle bearing off a fragment of its frock, which 
being the only part seized, and giving way, providentially saved the 
life of the infant. 
The appetite of the Bald Eagle, though habituated to long fasting, 
is of the most voracious, and often the most indelicate kind. Fish, 
when he can obtain them, are preferred to all other fare. Young 
lambs and pigs are dainty morsels, and made free with on all favorable 
occasions. Ducks, Geese, Gulls, and other sea fowl, are also seized 
with avidity. The most putrid carrion, when nothing better can be 
had, is acceptable; and the collected groups of gormandizing Vul- 
tures, on the approach of this dignified personage, instantly disperse, 
and make way for their master, waiting his departure in sullen silence, 
and at a respectful distance, on the adjacent trees. 
Tn one of those partial migrations of tree squirrels that sometimes 
take place in our western forests, many thousands of them were 
drowned in attempting to cross the Ohio; and at a certain place, not 
far from Wheeling, a prodigious number of their dead bodies were 
floated to the shore by an eddy. Here the Vultures assembled in 
great force, and had regaled themselves for some time, when a Bald 
Eagle made his appearance, and took sole possession of the premises, 
keeping the whole Vultures at their proper distance for several days. 
He has also been seen navigating the same river on a floating carrion, 
though scarcely raised above the surface of the water, and tugging at 
the carcass, regardless of snags, sawyers, planters, or shallows. He 
sometimes carries his tyranny to great extremes against the Vultures. 
In hard times, when food happens to be scarce, should he accidentally 
meet with one of these who has its craw crammed with carrion, he 
attacks it fiercely in the air; the cowardly Vulture instantly disgorges, 
and the deiicious contents are snatched up by the Eagle before they 
reach the ground. 
