VERTEBEATA. 
" These predatory attacks and defensive maneuvers of the eagle and the fish-hawk, are matters 
of daily observation along the whole of our sea-board, from Georgia to New England, and fre- 
quently excite great interest in the spectators. Sympathy, however, on this, as on most other 
occasions, generally sides with the honest and laborious sufferer, in opposition to the attack of 
power, injustice, and rapacity — qualities for which our hero is so generally notorious, and which, 
in his superior, nian^ are certainly detestable. As for the feelings of the poor fish, they seem alto- 
gether out of the question. 
" When driven, as he sometimes is, by the combined courage and perseverance of the fish-hawks, 
from their neighborhood, and forced to hunt for himself, he retires more inland, in search of 
young pigs, of which he destroys great numbers. In the lower parts of Virginia and North Caro- 
lina, where the inhabitants raise vast herds of these animals, complaints of this kind are very 
general against him. He also de troys young lambs in the early part of spring ; and will some- 
times attack old sickly sheep, aiming furiously at their eyes." 
Mr. J, L. Gardiner, addressing Wilson, writes thus : — " The bald eagles remain on Long Island 
during the whole winter. They can be most easily discovered on evenings, by their loud snoring 
while asleep on high oak-trees ; and, when awake, their hearing seems to be nearly as good as 
their sight. I think I mentioned to you, that I had myself seen one flying with a lamb ten days 
old, and which it dropped on the ground from about ten or twelve feet high. The struggling of 
the lamb, more than its weight, prevented its carrying it away. My running, hallooing, and 
being very nigh, might prevent its completing its design. It had broken the back in the act of 
seizing it ; and I was under the necessity of killing it outright to prevent its misery. The lamb's 
dam seemed astonished to see its innocent offspring borne off into the air by a bird. 
" I was lately told by a man of truth, that he saw an eagle rob a hawk of its fish, and the 
hawk seemed so enraged as to fly down at the eagle, while the eagle very deliberately, in the air, 
threw himself partly over on his back, and, while he grasped with one foot the fish, extended the 
other to threaten or seize the hawk. I have known several hawks unite to attack the eagle; but 
never knew a single one to do it. The eagle seems to regard the hawks as the hawks do the 
kingbirds — only as teasing, troublesome fellows." 
"The intrepidity of character, mentioned above," continues Wilson, "may be further illustrated 
by the following fact, which occurred a few years ago, near Great Egg Harbor, New Jersey : — A 
woman, who happened to be weeding in the garden, had set her child down near, to amuse itself 
while she was at work : when a sudden and extraordinary 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, providentially saved the life of the infant. 
"The appetite of the bald eagle, though 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 favorable 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 gormandizing 
vultures, on the approach of this dignified personage, instantly disperse, and make way for 
their master, waiting his departure in sullen silence, and at a respectful distance, on the adja- 
cent trees. 
"In one of those partial migrations of tree-squirrels that sometimes 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 possession 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, though scarcely raised above the surface of the water, and 
tugging at the carcass, regardless of snags, sawyers, planters, or shallows. He sometimes carries 
his tyranny to great extremes against the vultures. In hard times, when feed happens to be 
scarce, should he accidentally meet with one of these which has its craw crammed with carrion, he 
