264 
WILD SCENES AND SONG-BIEDS. 
two Birds, is one of the sublimest to be witnessed in the ac- 
tion of the natural world, and though you may regret the 
fierce greediness of the audacious Cloud-King, and be very 
far from defending the morality of the proceeding, yet you 
cannot restrain an admiration of the manner. You may re- 
gret that poor Fish-Hawks have to be robbed, and rejoice 
with a hearty sympathy when you see them combine as they 
sometimes do for the purpose of castigating their oppressor, 
yet you cannot help feeling that since the Eagles are incor- 
rigible and beyond the reach of your exhortations to reform, 
it is far better and finer to have them do what is inevitable 
from their natures grandly, than to do it ignobly. 
So with regard to the spirit of " acquisition," or " exten- 
sion," as it is politely termed — we regret that it should be so 
strongly displayed in the national character, but see no use, 
so long as there is any more territory left in the Hemisphere 
to temj)t this acquisitiveness, in putting up a poor mouth 
about it. The fact is, we cannot expect to tame the Eagle — 
to feed on milksops, or meekly and musically " roar like 
any sucking dove !" The war-cry is its natural note, and 
while there be storms to gather up the sky we may expect 
to hear it shouted from amidst the rack thereof! It is a 
Warrior-Bird — ^fit emblem, with all its rapacity, of a warlike 
people, and of a vigorous freedom that should have 
An Eagle's wings for scope and speediness." 
Franklin repeats the stale slander concerning it, of coward- 
ice — because a comparatively small creature, like the King- 
Bird or Bee-Martin, can drive it off ! As to that, the Hum- 
ming-Bird is far more dreaded by it, and we have seen the 
waspish little wretch dart in between the wings of a flying 
Eagle, fasten upon the top of its head, and work away with 
long sharp bill and claws until the floating feathers streamed 
after the flight of the great Bird, which would seem from its 
darting, irregular movements, to be almost maddened by the 
