92 



WHITE-HEADED EAGLE. 



In corroboration of the remarks I have myself made on the 

 manners of the Bald Eagle, many accounts have reached me from 

 various persons of respectability, living on or near our sea coast; 

 the substance of all these I shall endeavour to incorporate with the 

 present account. 



Mr. John L. Gardiner, who resides on an island of three thou- 

 sand acres, about three miles from the eastern point of Long island, 

 from which it is separated by Gardiner's bay, and who has conse- 

 quently many opportunities of observing the habits of these birds, 

 has favored me with a number of interesting particulars on this 

 subject; for which I beg leave thus publickly to return my grateful 

 acknowledgment. 



" The Bald Eagles,'' says this gentleman, " remain on this 

 " island during the whole winter. They can be most easily dis- 

 " covered on evenings by their loud snoring while asleep on high 

 " oak trees; and when awake their hearing seems to be nearly as 

 " good as their sight. I think I mentioned to you that I had my- 

 " self seen one flying with a lamb ten days old, and which it drop- 

 " ped on the ground, from about ten or twelve feet high. The 

 " struggling of the lamb, more than its weight, prevented its car- 

 " rying it away. My running, hallooing, and being very near, 

 " might prevent its completing its design. It had broke the back 

 " in the act of seizing it; and I was under the necessity of kill- 

 " ing it outright to prevent its misery. The lamb's dam seemed 

 " astonished to see its innocent offspring borne off into the air by 

 " a bird. 



" I was lately told," continues Mr. Gardiner, " by a man of 

 " truth, that he saw an Eagle rob a Hawk of its fish, and the Hawk 

 " seemed so enraged as to fly down at the Eagle, while the Eagle 

 " very deliberately, in the air, threw himself partly over on his 

 " back, and while he grasped with one foot the fish, extended the 

 " other to threaten or seize the Hawk. T have known several 

 " Hawks unite to attack the Eagle; but never knew a single one 



