NIGHT AND DAY HUNTERS 187 



The Bald Eagle and the Golden Eagle 



Length— Male 30 to 33 inches; female 35 to 40 inches. 



Male and Female — ^Head, neck, and tail white; after third 

 year rest of plumage dusky brown, the feathers paler on 

 edges; bill and feet yellow; legs bare of feathers. Im- 

 mature birds are almost black the first year ("black 

 eagles ") ; the bases of feathers white ; bill black. Second 

 year they are "gray eagles" and are then actually larger 

 than adults. The third year, they come into possession 

 of "bald" heads and white tails. 



Range — North America, nesting throughout range. 



Season — ^Permanent resident. 



Emblem of the republic, standing for freedom to enjoy 

 life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, it must be 

 owned that our national bird is a piratical parasite when- 

 ever he gets the chance. With every provision of nature 

 for noble deeds: keenest sight, superb strength, hardihood, 

 fully developed wings, it is seldom that the American eagle 

 obtains a bite to eat in a legitimate way, but almost in- 

 variably by stratagem and plunder. Near the sea and 

 other large bodies of water he sits in majesty upon a cliff, 

 or on the naked limb of some tree commanding a wide 

 view, and watches the osprey — a conspicuous sufferer — 

 and other water fowl course patiently over the waves up 

 and down the coast for a fish. Instantly one is caught, 

 down falls the eagle like Jove's thunderbolt from Mount 

 Olympus, and as escape from so overpowering a foe is im- 

 possible, the successful fisher quickly drops its prey, while 

 the eagle, dexterously catching it before it touches the 

 water, makes off to his eyrie among the clouds to enjoy it at 



