Birps oF Prey. 173 
and it is rather seldom that they come inland, unless 
it is to the mountainous regions. 
Of course so bulky a bird preys upon animals and 
birds of large size, and Dr. Warren has given an 
amusing account of one kept in confinement, which 
very readily despatched cats of the largest size and 
ate a very considerable portion of them. 
Lewis and Clarke found this bird on the Pacific 
seaboard, and remark concerning it,— 
“This bird is feared by all his carnivorous competitors, which, on 
his approach, leave the carcass instantly on which they had been 
feeding. The female breeds in the most inaccessible parts of the 
mountains, where she makes her summer residence, and descends to 
the plains only in the fall and winter seasons. The natives are at 
this season on the watch, and so highly is this plumage prized by the 
Mandans, the Minnetarees, and the Ricaras, that the tail-feathers of 
two of these eagles will be purchased by the exchange of a good 
horse or gun.” 
Everybody is supposed to know the whole history 
of the Bald Eagle, and certainly the adult bird is 
always recognized at sight. The glistening white 
head and white tail mark it at once as the eagle, and 
I am not positive that the bird possesses any particu- 
larly interesting phase of habit or character. It is 
neither brave nor cunning, and when the fish-hawk 
will provide it with fish it is quite willing that it 
should do so. 
J. K. Lord found them stupid to a marked degree 
on the Pacific coast in winter. He says,— 
“They collect, young and old together, round the Sumass Lake, 
and as the cold becomes intense they sit three and four on the limb 
of a pine-tree, or in a semi-stupid state, all their craft and courage 
gone, blinking and drowsy as an owl in daytime. 
15* 
