THE 0WL8. 



227 



social. The bald-lieaded eagle {Haliaetus hucoceplicclus) is 

 dark-brown when young, and before shedding its youthful 

 plumage is larger than the white-headed adult. It nests on 

 inaccessible rocky points; is the sworn enemy of the fish- 

 hawk, and, like it, fond of fish, often wresting its living 

 food from the talons of the hawk. This species is the em- 

 blem of our country. The osprey or fish-hawk [Pandion 

 haliaetus) is two-thirds of a metre long, nests in tall trees, 



Fig. 268.— Carolina Parroquet. 



and is migratory. Among the hawks, the most notable are 

 the falcons or hunting hawks, used during the Middle 

 Ages in hunting the hare, etc.; in nature they chase their 

 prey and kill it immediately, devouring it, and rejecting 

 the bones and hair of the partly digested food in a ball 

 from the mouth. 



The owl is a bird of the night; its flight is noiseless, ow- 

 ing to its soft plumage, the feathers having no after-shaft. 

 It has large eyes and a hooked bill, giving the bird of Mi- 



