THE EAGLE OF THE ANDES. 55 



THE EAGLE OF THE ANDES. 



IN THE ROYAL MENAGERY, TOWER OF LONDON. 



The eao-le has always been considered as the celestial bird, and was regarded by the ancients in their 

 auguries as the messenger of Jupiter. In several points, both physical and moral, he resembles the 

 lion. Both are alike distinguished by their strength, and hence the eagle extends his dominion over 

 the birds, as the lion over the quadrupeds. Both disdain the possession of that property which is not 

 the fruit of their own industry, and they reject with contempt the prey which is not procured by their 

 own exertions. The eagle seldom devours the whole of its game ; but, like the lion, leaves the 

 fragments and offals to other animals. Like the lion also, he is solitary, — the inhabitant of a desert, 

 over which he reigns supreme, and excludes all the other birds from his select domain. It is more 

 uncommon perhaps to see two pair of eagles in the same tract of the mountain, than two families of 

 lions in the same part of the forest. They separate from each other at such wide intervals, as to afford 

 ample range for subsistence, and esteem the value and extent of their kingdom to consist in the 

 abundance of the prey with which it is replenished. 



The external appearance of the eagle is powerful and majestic. His bill and claws are crooked 

 and formidable, and his figure corresponds to his instinct. His body is robust ; his legs and wings are 

 strong; his flesh hard ; his bones firm ; his feathers stiff ; his attitude bold and erect ; his movements 

 quick ; his flight rapid. He can distinguish objects at an immense distance ; but his sense of smell is 

 inferior to that of the vulture. By means of his exquisite sight, he pursues his prey, and when he has 

 seized it, he checks his flight, and places it upon the ground, to examine its weight, before he carries 

 it off. Though his wings be vigorous, yet, his legs being stiff, it is with difficulty that he can rise, 

 especially if he be loaded. He bears away geese and cranes with ease, and frequently carries off hares, 

 lambs, and kids. When he attacks fawns and calves, he instantly gluts himself with their blood and 

 flesh, and afterwards transports their mangled carcases to his eyry (so his nest is called), which is quite 

 flat, and not hollow like that of other birds. He commonly places it between two rocks, in a dry 

 inaccessible place. It has been stated by certain naturalists, and particularly by Buffon, that the same 

 nest serves the eagle for the whole course of his life. It is indeed a work laborious enough not to be 

 repeated, and solid enough to last for a considerable time. It is constructed nearly like a floor, with 

 small sticks, five or six inches long, supported at the extremities, and crossed with pliant branches, 

 covered with several layers of rushes and heath. The nest is several feet broad, and so firm, as not 

 only to receive the eagle, the female and young, but to bear the weight of a large quantity of provi- 

 sions. It is not covered above, but is sheltered by the projection of the upper part of the rock. In 

 the middle of this structure the female deposits her eggs, which seldom exceed two, and the period of 

 incubation is thirty days. It is, however, a curious characteristic of the bird, that if it lays three eggs, 

 one of them generally proves addle, at least it is a very rare circumstance indeed to find three eaglets 

 in a nest. By some naturalists it is pretended, in order to account for the limited number of the 

 young, that the mother destroys the weakest or the most voracious of her infant brood. An excessive 

 scarcity of provisions can alone occasion this unnatural treatment. The parents, not possessing a 

 sufficiency for their own support, endeavour to reduce the members of their family, and when the 

 young are able to fly, and in some degree to provide for themselves, they expel them from their natal 

 abode, and never suffer them to return. 



There is a singular property common to all the birds of prey, that the female is stronger and a 

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