EAGLES AND ART. 
26:9 
The next day an equal quantity of white arsenic was given 
him, without any greater effect ; so that in the end the re- 
fractory bird was obliged to be put to death by mechanical 
means." 
In the second, a Golden Eagle was the victim. It had 
been taken in a fox-trap^ on the White Mountains, and was 
procured alive and in fine condition, by Mr. Audubon, who 
found it necessary to take its life that he might paint its por- 
trait. The passage, though long for our space, is so charac- 
teristic that we cannot refrain from giving it entire. He 
says: — "I occupied myself a whole day in watching his 
movements ; on the next I came to a determination as to the 
position in which I might best represent him ; and on the 
third thought of how I could take away his life with the 
least pain to him. I consulted several persons on the sub- 
ject, and among others my most worthy and generous friend, 
George Parkman, Esq., M.D., who kindly visited my family 
every day. He spoke of suffocating him by means of burn 
ing charcoal, of killing him by electricity, &c., and we both 
concluded that the first method would probably be the easiest 
for ourselves, and the least painful to him. Accordingly the 
bird was removed in his prison into a very small room, and 
closely covered with blankets, into which was introduced a 
pan of lighted charcoal, when the windows and doors were 
fastened, and the blankets tucked in beneath the cage. I 
waited, expecting every moment to hear him fall down from 
his perch ; but after listening for hours^ I opened the door, 
raised the blankets, and peeped under them amidst a mass 
of suffocating fumes. There stood the Eagle on his perch, 
with his bright unflinching eye turned towards me, and as 
lively and vigorous as ever ! Instantly reclosing every 
aperture, I resumed my station at the door, and towards 
midnight, not having heard the least noise, I again took a 
peep at my victim. He was still uninjured, although the air 
of the closet was insupportable to my son and myself, and 
that of the adjoining apartment began to feel unpleasant. I 
