332 WHITE-HEADED, OR BALD EAGLE. 
eye of the intelligent voyager, and adds great interest to the scenery. 
At the great Cataract of Niagara, already mentioned, there rises from 
the gulf into which the Fall of the Horse-Shoe descends, a stupendous 
column of smoke, or spray, reaching to the heavens, and moving off in 
large, black clouds, according to the direction of the wind, forming « 
very striking and majestic appearance. The Eagles are here seen 
sailing about, sometimes losing themselves in this thick column, and 
again reappearing in another place, with such ease and elegance of 
motion, as renders the whole truly sublime. 
High o’er the watery uproar, silent seen, 
Sailing sedate in majesly serene, 
Now midst the pillared spray sublimely Jost, 
And now, emerging, down the Rapids tossed, 
Glides the Bald Eagle, gazing, calm and slow, 
O’er all the horrors of the scene below ; 
Intent alone to sate himself with blood, 
T'rom the torn victims of the raging flood. 
The White-headed Eagle is three feet long, and seven feet in 
extent; the bill is of a rich yellow; cere, the same, slightly tinged 
with green; mouth, flesh-colored; tip of the tongue, bluish black; 
the head, chief part of the neck, vent, tail-coverts, and tail, are white 
in the perfect, or old birds of both sexes, — in those under three years 
of age these parts are of a gray brown; the rest of the plumage is 
deep dark brown, each feather tipped with pale brown, lightest on the 
shoulder of the wing, and darkest towards its extremities. The con- 
formation of the wing is admirably adapted for the support of so large 
a bird; it measures two feet in breadth on the greater quills, and six- 
teen inches on the lesser; the longest primaries are twenty inches in 
length, and upwards of one inch in circumference where they enter 
the skin; the broadest secondaries are three inches in breadth across 
the vane; the scapulars are very large and broad, spreading from the 
back to the wing, to prevent the air from passing through; another 
range of broad flat feathers, from three to ten inches in length, also 
extends from the lower part of the breast to the wing below, for the 
same purpose ; between these lies a deep triangular cavity ; the thighs 
are remarkably thick, strong, and muscular, covered with long feathers 
pointing backwards, usually called the femoral feathers; the legs, 
which are covered half way below the knee, before, with dark brown 
downy feathers, are of a rich yellow, the color of ripe Indian corn; 
feet, the same; claws, blue black, very large and strong, particularly 
the inner one, which is considerably the largest; soles, very rough 
and warty ; the eye is sunk under a bony, or cartilaginous projection, 
of a pale yellow color, and is turned considerably forwards, not 
standing parallel with the cheeks; the iris is of a bright straw coloy, 
pupil black. 
The male is generally two or three inches shorter than the female ; 
the white on the head, neck, and tail being more tinged with yel- 
lowish, and its whole appearance less formidable ; the prown plumage 
is also lighter, and the bird itself less daring than the female,—a 
circumstance common to almost all birds of prey. ‘ 
The bird from which this description, and Fig. 157, were taken, was 
