550 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



its neck, trails its wings, drops its tail, and flutters feebly along 

 the branches, in order to delude the enemy into an idea that it is 

 so lame that it can easily be caught. The male is even a greater 

 adept than the female at this practice, and, if he thinks that he 

 has not decoyed the intruder far enough, he will slip through the 

 branches, fly round, and repeat the process. 



Another North American bird is a mighty nest-maker, trust- 

 ing for safety to the inaccessible nature of the tree on which its 

 home is placed. This is the well-known Bald-headed Eagle, 

 sometimes called the Bird of Washington {Falco leucoc^halus), 

 which has been accepted as the emblem of the United States of 

 America. The nest of this bird has been admirably described by 

 the two great masters of American ornithology, Audubon and 

 Wilson ; and as it is not easy to improve upon the language of 

 those who were at the same time good observers and practiced 

 writers, their accounts will be given in their own words. The 

 reader will perceive that the two histories are placed side by 

 side, because the points that are omitted by one are supplied by 

 the other. ' 



I may mention that the term " bald-headed," as applied to this 

 splendid bird, is by no means correct, because the head is feather- 

 ed as densely as any other part of the body ; but as the head of 

 the adult bird is white, it produces an effect, when viewed at a 

 distance, as if it were deprived altogether of feathers, and covered 

 with a white skin. The following account is by Wilson : 



" The White-headed Eagle is seldom seen alone, the mutual at- 

 tachment which two individuals form when they first pair seem- 

 ing to continue until one of them dies or is destroyed. They hunt 

 for the support of each other, and seldom feed apart, but usually 

 drive oif other birds of the same species. They commence their 

 amatory intercourse at an earlier period than any other land bird 

 with which I am acquainted, generally in the month of Decem- 

 ber. 



" At this time, along the Mississippi, or by the margin of some 

 lake not far in the interior of the forest, the male and female birds 

 are observed making a great bustle, flying about and circling in 

 various ways, uttering a loud cackling noise, alighting on the 

 dead branches of the tree on which their nest is already prepar- 

 ing, or in the act of being repaired, and caressing each other. In 

 the beginning of January incubation commences. I shot a female 



