Class II. GOLDEN EAGLE. 199 



hold afar off:* the head and neck are clothed 

 with narrow sharp-pointed feathers, of a deep 

 brown color, bordered with tawny ; the hind part 

 of the head in particular is of a bright rust-color. 

 The whole body, above as well as beneath, is 

 of a dark brown, and the feathers on the back 

 are finely clouded with a deeper shade of the 

 same : the wings, when closed, reach to the end 

 of the tail ; the quil feathers are of a chocolate 

 color, the shafts white : the tail is of a deep 

 brown, irregularly barred and blotched with an 

 obscure ash color, and usually white at the roots 

 of the feathers : the legs are yellow, short, and 

 very strong, being three inches in circumference, 

 and are feathered to the very feet : the toes are 

 covered with large scales, and armed with most 

 formidable claws, the middle of which are two 

 inches loner. 



o 



Eagles in general are very destructive to 

 fawns, lambs, kids, and all kind of game ; parti- 

 cularly in the breeding season, when they bring 

 a vast quantity of prey to their young. Smith, 

 in his history of Kerrey, relates that a poor man 

 in that county got a comfortable subsistence for 

 his family, during a summer of famine, out of 



* Job xxxix. g. Where the natural history of the eagle is 

 finely drawn up. 



