SEA EAGLE. 



315 



save the eggs or young, insisted on ascending to the nest, 

 which he fearlessly performed, while we stationed ourselves 

 below, ready to defend him in case of an attack from the old 

 eagles. No opposition, however, was offered ; and on reach- 

 ing the nest, it was found, to our disappointment, empty. It 

 was built of large sticks, some of them several feet in length ; 

 within which lay sods of earth, sedge, grass, dry reeds, &c, 

 piled to the height of five or sis feet, by more than four in 

 breadth. It was well lined with fresh pine tops, and had 

 little or no concavity. Under this lining lay the recent exuviae 

 of the young of the present year, such as scales of the quill- 

 feathers, down, &c. Our guide had passed this place late in 

 February, at which time both male and female were making 

 a great noise about the nest ; and, from what we afterwards 

 learnt, it is highly probable it contained young, even at that 

 early time of the season. 



A few miles from this is another eagle's nest, built also on 

 a pine tree, which, from the information received from the 

 proprietor of the woods, had been long the residence of this 

 family of eagles. The tree on which the nest was originally 

 built, had been, for time immemorial, or at least ever since he 

 remembered, inhabited by these eagles. Some of his sons cut 

 down this tree to procure the young, which were two in 

 number ; and the eagles soon after commenced building 

 another nest on the very next adjoining tree, thus exhibiting 

 a very particular attachment to the spot. The eagles, he says, 

 make it a kind of home and lodging "place in all seasons. 

 This man asserts that the gray or sea eagles are the young 

 of the bald eagle, and that they are several years old before 

 they begin to breed. It does not drive its young from the 

 nest, like the osprey or fish hawk, but continues to feed them 

 long after they leave it. 



The bird from which the figure in the plate was drawn, and 

 which is reduced to one-third the size of life, measured three 

 feet in length, and upwards of seven feet in extent. The bill 

 was formed exactly like that of the bald eagle, but of a dusky 



