WHITE-HEADED OR BALD EAGLE. 63 



diminished, the game on which they were in the habit of feeding, having 

 been forced to seek refuge from the persecution of man farther in the wilder- 

 ness. Many, however, are still observed on these rivers, particularly along 

 the shores of the Mississippi. 



In concluding this account of the White-headed Eagle, suffer me, kind 

 reader, to say how much I grieve that it should have been selected as the 

 Emblem of my Country. The opinion of our great Franklin on this subject, 

 as it perfectly coincides with my own, I shall here present to you. "For 

 my part," says he, in one of his letters, "I wish the Bald Eagle had not 

 been chosen as the representative of our country. He is a bird of bad moral 

 character; he does not get his living honestly; you may have seen him 

 perched on some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches 

 the labour of the Fishing-Hawk; and when that diligent bird has at length 

 taken a fish, and is bearing it to his nest for the support of his mate and 

 young ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him, and takes it from him. With all 

 this injustice, he is never in good case, but, like those among men who live 

 by sharping and robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy. Besides, 

 he is a rank coward: the little King Bird, not bigger than a Sparrow, attacks 

 him boldly, and drives him out of the district. He is, therefore, by no 

 means a proper emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America, who 

 have driven all the King Birds from our country; though exactly fit for that 

 order of knights which the French call Chevaliers d' Industrie." 



Bald Eagle, Falco Haliaetus, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. iv. p. 89. Adult. 



Sea Eagle, Falco ossifragus, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. vii. p. 16. Young. 



Falco leucocephalus, Bonap. Synops., p. 26. 



Aquila leucocephala, White-headed Eagle, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. 



p. 15. 

 White-headed or Bald Eagle, Falco leucocephalus, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 72. 

 White-headed Eagle, Falco leucocephalus, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. i. p. 160; vol. ii. p. 160; 



vol. v. p. 354. 



Adult Male. 



Bill bluish-black, cere light blue, feet pale greyish-blue, tinged anteriorly 

 with yellow. General colour of upper parts deep umber-brown, the tail 

 barred with whitish on the inner webs; the upper part of the head and neck 

 white, the middle part of the crown dark brown; a broad band of the latter 

 colour from the bill down the side of the neck; lower parts white, the neck 

 streaked with light brown; anterior tibial feather tinged with brown. Young 

 with the feathers of the upper parts broadly tipped with brownish-white, the 

 lower pure white. 



Wings long, second quill longest, first considerably shorter. Tail of ordi- 



