A LABRADOR SPRING 
gold piece appeared in 1907 with the design by 
St. Gaudens of an eagle in flight, its legs behind, 
objections were at once made. A writer in the 
Boston Transcript said: ‘‘ Whoever saw an 
eagle in flight with its legs trailing behind it 
like a heron?” thus voicing the popular and 
conventional idea that the legs are carried in 
front. Although I have seen many wild hawks 
flying with their feet behind, sometimes trailing 
them with a distinct gap between the tail and 
the legs, for all the world like the St. Gaudens’ 
design, my most satisfactory views have been 
those of ospreys at Bristol, Rhode Island, 
where the birds are semi-domesticated, for 
they build their nests on tall poles, erected for 
their convenience in barn yards, and allow 
inspection at close range. Here there can be 
no question but that they carry the feet behind 
in flight. 
Owls also dispose of their legs in the same 
manner as I have observed in a great horned 
owl confined in a flying cage, and in a wild 
barred owl seen flying about its nest. 
The same habits exist among the pheasants, 
grouse and partridges. I have not been able 
to see the feet in the rapid flight of the ruffed 
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