WHITE-HEADED, OR BALD EAGLE. 333 
shot near Great Egg Harbor, in the month of J anuary. It was in 
excellent order, and weighed about eleven pounds. Dr. Samuel B. 
Smith, of this city, obliged me with a minute and careful dissection 
of it; from whose copious and very interesting notes on the subject, I 
shall extract such remarks as are, suited to the general reader, 
“The Eagle you sent me for dissection was a beautiful female. It 
had two expansions of. the gullet. The first principally composed of 
longitudinal bundles of fibre, in which (as the bird is ravenous and 
without teeth) large portions of unmasticated meats are suffered to 
dissolve before they pass to the lower or proper stomach, which is 
‘membranous. J did not receive the bird time enough to ascertain 
whether any chilification was effected by the juices from the vessels 
of this enlargement of the esophagus. I think it probable, that it also 
has a regurgitating, or vomiting power, as the bird constantly swal- 
lows large quantities of indipeatibie substances, such as quills, hairs, 
&c. In this sac of the Eagle, I found the quill-feathers of the small 
White Gull; and in the true stomach, the tail.and some of the breast- 
feathers of the same bird, and the dorsal vertebre of a large fish. 
This excited some surprise, until you made me acquainted with the 
fact of its watching the Fish Hawks, and robbing-them of their prey. 
Thus we see, throughout the whole empire of animal life, power is 
almost always in a state of hostility to justice; and of the Deity only 
can it truly be said, that justice is commensurate with power / 
“The Eagle has the several auxiliaries to digestion and assimilation 
in common with man. The liver was unusually large in your speci- 
men. It secretes bile, which stimulates the intestines, prepares the 
chyle for blood, and by this very secretion of bile, (as it-is a deeply 
respiring anifnal,) separates or removes some obnoxious principles 
from the blood. (See Dr. Rush’s admirable lecture on this important 
viscus in the human subject.) The intestines were also large, long, 
convolute, and supplied with numerous lacteal vessels, which differ 
little from those of men, except in color, which was transparent. The 
‘kidneys were large, and seated on each side the vertebra, near the 
anus. They are also destined to secrete some offensive principles 
from the blood. ; 
“The eggs were small and numerous ; and, after a careful examina- 
tion, I concluded that no sensible increase takes place in them till the 
particular season. This may account for the unusual excitement 
which prevails in these birds in the sexual intercourse. Why there 
are so many eggs, is a mystery. It is, perhaps, consistent with natural 
law, that every thing should be abundant; but, from this bird, it is 
said, no more than two young are hatched in a season, consequently, 
no more eggs are wanted than a sufficiency to produce that effect. 
Are the eggs numbered originally, and is there no increase of number, 
but @ gradual loss, till all are deposited? If so, the number may cor- 
respond to the long life and vigorous health of this noble bird. Why 
there are but two young in a season, is easily explained. Nature has 
been studiously parsimonious of her physical strength, from whence 
the tribes of animals incapable to resist, derive security and confi- 
dence.” . 
The Eagle is said to live to a great age, —sixty, eighty, and, as 
some assert, one hundred years. This circumstance is remarkable, 
