HABITS OF THE EAGLE. 
123 
bird of prey, the roar of his wings filling the air as with a clang and a 
clash he disappears in the deep. Now, indeed, the eagle is all ardour ; 
and he levels his neck for flight as the fish-hawk once more emerges, 
contending with his prey, and rising in the air with loud exultant 
screams. The signal is sufficient. Launching from his perch, the 
eagle gives chase, and speedily gains upon the fish-hawk ; each using 
his most strenuous exertions to rise above the other, and engaging in 
evolutions which are not less sublime than graceful. The eagle gains 
upon his rival, and is just on the point of closing with him, when the 
latter, with a scream of rage and disappointment, drops his fish. 
Then see the triumphant brigand-bird, poising luMself for a moment 
as if to take a more certain aim, descend with a rush and a whirl, 
seizing the prey before it reaches the water, and carrying it off in 
silence to the woods. 
Such is Wilson's description of a scene which is of common 
occurrence along the sea-border of the States. Audubon sketches 
it in very similar terms. 
The eagle is not fond of a solitary life ; and the mutual attachment 
of a pair seems to endure from the moment of their first union until 
it is broken by death. Side by side they hunt for food, and side by 
side they devour it. Their connubial season begins in December, 
and is indicated by a good deal of noisiness on either part. You may 
see them on the wing together, rending the air with their hoai'se 
screams, wheeling through space with swift and powerful wings, 
sometimes playfully contending with each other, and then retiring to 
the branches of the tree where they have made their abode. Early in 
January the female begins to lay. The nest is rudely made up of 
sticks three to four feet long, of clods of grass, and pieces of moss and 
lichens ; the whole being from five to six feet in circumference. The 
eggs are two or three in number — rarely four; of a greenish white, 
with a granular shell, and of equal dimensions at both ends. The 
period of incubation does not exceed four weeks ; and the young 
eaglets, when they make their appearance, are covered with a reddish 
down. As their beak and claws are of a most disproportionate length, 
they are by no means " tilings of beauty." They are not allowed to 
