WHITE-HEADED EAGLE. 



93 



" to do it. The Eagle seems to regard the Hawks as the Hawks 

 " do the King-birds, only as teasing troublesome fellows. 



From the same intelligent and obliging friend I lately re- 

 ceived a well preserved skin of the Bald Eagle, which, from its 

 appearance, and the note that accompanied it, seems to have be- 

 longed to a very formidable individual. It was shot,^^ says Mr. 

 Gardiner, " last winter, on this island, and weighed thirteen pounds, 

 " measured three feet in length, and seven from tip to tip of the 

 " expanded wings ; was extremely fierce looking ; tho wounded 

 would turn his back to no one ; fastened his claws into the 

 " head of a dog, and was with difficulty disengaged. I have rode 

 " on horseback within five or six rod of one, who, by his bold de- 

 " meanour, raising his feathers, &c. seemed willing to dispute the 

 " ground with its owner. The crop of the present was full of mut- 

 " ton from my part blood Merinos ; and his intestines contained 

 " feathers, which he probably devoured with a Duck, or Winter 

 " Gull, as I observed an entire foot and leg of some water fowl. 

 " I had two killed previous to this which weighed ten pounds avoir- 

 " dupois each.^' 



The intrepidity of character, mentioned above, may be far- 

 ther illustrated by the following fact, which occurred a few years 

 ago near Great Egg-harbour, New Jersey. A woman who hap- 

 pened to be weeding in the garden, had set her child down near, 

 to amuse itself while she was at work; when a sudden and extra- 

 ordinary rushing sound, and a scream from her child alarmed her, 

 and starting up she beheld the infant thrown down, and dragged 

 some few feet, and a large Bald Eagle bearing off a fragment of 

 its frock, which being the only part seized, and giving way, provi- 

 dentially saved the life of the infant. 



The appetite of the Bald Eagle, tho habituated to long fasting, 

 is of the most voracious and often the most indelicate kind. Fish, 

 when he can obtain them, are preferred to all other fare. Young 

 lambs and pigs are dainty morsels, and made free with on all fa- 



VOL. IV. A a 



