ADVENTURES WITH BIRDS OF PREY 



125 



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WITH EXCITED CHIRPS, TWO DOWNY EAGLETS GREET THKIR MOTHERS RETURN 



The young bald eagles know that mealtime is at hand. On the menu is the catfish (lower left) which the 

 majestic parent will tear into small pieces and feed to her little ones. Eaglets are covered with a fluffy, whitish 

 down for two or three weeks before their feathers appear. To photograph this eyrie, the authors had to 

 climb 80 feet up a big sycamore tree on an island in the Potomac near Washington, D. C. (pages 127 and 

 132). The bald or American eagle, officially designated as an emblem of the United States in 1782, appears 

 on the Nation's seal and on many coins. Benjamin Franklin objected, accusing the eagle of "bad moral 

 character." He nominated a "much more respectable bird," the turkey gobbler ! 



