94 



WHITE-HEADED EAGLE. 



vorable occasions. Ducks, Geese, Gulls and other sea fowl, are 

 also seized with avidity. The most putrid carrion, when nothing 

 better can be had, is acceptable; and the collected groups of gor- 

 mandizing Vultures, on the approach of this dignified personage, 

 instantly disperse, and make way for their master, waiting his de- 

 parture in sullen silence, and at a respectful distance, on the adja- 

 cent trees. 



In one of those partial migrations of tree squirrels that some- 

 times take place in our western forests, many thousands of them 

 were drowned in attempting to cross the Ohio ; and at a certain 

 place, not far from Wheeling, a prodigious number of their dead 

 bodies were floated to the shore by an eddy. Here the Vultures 

 assembled in great force, and had regaled themselves for some 

 time, when a Bald Eagle made his appearance, and took sole pos- 

 session of the premises, keeping the whole Vultures at their proper 

 distance for several days. He has also been seen navigating the 

 same river on a floating carrion, tho scarcely raised above the sur- 

 face of the water, and tugging at the carcase, regardless of snags, 

 sawyers, planters or shallows. He sometimes carries his tyranny 

 to great extremes against the Vultures. In hard times, when food 

 happens to be scarce, should he accidentally meet with one of these 

 who has its craw crammed with carrion, he attacks it fiercely in 

 air; the cowardly Vulture instantly disgorges, and the delicious con- 

 tents are snatched up by the Eagle before they reach the ground. 



The nest of this species is generally fixed on a very large and 

 lofty tree, often in a swamp, or morass, and difficult to be ascended. 

 On some noted tree of this description, often a pine or cypress, the 

 Bald Eagle builds, year after year, for a long series of years. When 

 both male and female have been shot from the nest, another pair 

 has soon after taken possession. The nest is large, being added 

 to and repaired every season, until it becomes a black prominent 

 mass, observable at a considerable distance. It is formed of large 

 sticks, sods, earthy rubbish, hay, moss, &c. Many have stated to 



