200 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 
hold of the most slippery: so that the Eagle on her two feet 
seems as firmly based as most quadrupeds do on four. The 
hold which she thus takes of the surface, and the powerful 
action of the muscles that move the toes, give her another 
advantage; for by those combined powers, she can throw 
herself with a bound into the air, at the same time that she 
expands her wings, and thus, contrary to the vulgar belief, 
rear usually from level ground. When, however, the Eagle 
has been feeding in any other place than near her abode, 
she shows an unwillingness to rise. As she is so constituted 
as to be able to bear hunger four or five weeks, her feeding 
is voracious in proportion; and as, notwithstanding that she 
shows considerable adroitness in plucking birds, and skin- 
ning quadrupeds, she always swallows, more or less, of the 
indigestible exuviae, as well as the bones of the smaller prey, 
her meal is heavy. This, in all probability, has given rise 
to the vulgar opinion. 
The following description of the adult female, given in- 
Selby’s admirable work on “ British Ornithology,” is accu- 
rate: — Bill bluish at the base, the tip black. Cere, (the 
naked skin at the base of the bill,) lemon-yellow. Irides, 
orange-brown. Primary quills, black, the secondary ones, 
clouded with hair-brown, broccoli-brown, and umber- 
brown. Crown of the head, and nape of the neck, pale 
orange-brown; the feathers occasionally marginated with 
white, narrow, elongated, and distinct. Chin and throat, 
dark umber-brown. Vent, pale reddish brown. Tail, pale 
broccoli-brown, barred with blackish brown, and ending in 
a broad band of the same colour. Tarsi, clothed with pale 
reddish-brown feathers. Toes naked, yellow. Claws black, 
very strong, and much hooked. 
In the young bird, the irides of the eyes are not so yel- 
low; the back and coverts of the wings are of a deeper 
brown; there are some white feathers on the breast and 
belly; the inside of the thighs are white; the feathers on 
the tarsi, white; the feathers of the wings, white at their 
bases; and the tail, white, for a part of its length from the 
root, which becomes less at each successive moulting. 
These distinctions diminish till the fourth year, when the 
bird arrives at its full size; they are then lost, and the age 
cannot be known for a number of years. The story that is 
usually told about the Eagle renewing her age, is of course 
without foundation, though it probably relates to the moult- 
ing or change of the feathers, which happens to the Eagle 
as well as to other birds. 
Though the Golden Eagle, as found in England, be per- 
fectly untameable, there is a constant sexual attachment in 
the race. The greater number of other birds pair only 
during the breeding season, and become indifferent to each 
other after the young can subsist by themselves; but the 
nuptials of the Eagle are for life. After a male and female 
have paired, they never separate, or change their abode, 
and rear all their successive broods in the same nest, which 
being made of strong twigs five or six feet long, firmly wat- 
tled and placed in some fissure or hollow of an abrupt rock, 
is supposed to last for centuries with only additional repairs. 
The pair, though they drive off their young, and, indeed, 
every creature but man, whose haunts they shun, are closely 
associated together: when the one is seen for any length of 
time, the other is sure not to be far distant; and the one 
may often be seen flying low and beating the bushes, while 
the other floats high in air, in order to pounce upon the 
frightened prey. 
The time that they live, has not been accurately ascer- 
tained ; but their longevity must be very great. In their 
strength they are proof against the elements, for the strong- 
est gale does not much impede their motion; and their 
powers of endurance enable them to sustain very great 
casualties in respect of food. In many parts of Scotland, 
where they are much more numerous than in England, 
there are pairs that have nestled in the same cliffs, beyond 
the memory of the inhabitants. One of these places is 
Lochlee, at the head of the North Esk in Forfarshire. That 
lake lies in a singular basin, between perpendicular cliffs on 
the north, and high and precipitous mountains on the south. 
A pair of Eagles inhabit each side, so that three may some- 
times be seen floating in the air at once; but those that have 
their abode in the inaccessible cliffs on the north, seem to 
be lords of the place, as the south ones do not venture to 
beat the valley while these are on the wing. Nor is it in 
their native freedom only that Eagles attain a great age; 
for there was one kept in a state of confinement at Vienna 
for one hundred and four years. 
The female lays usually two eggs, which are supposed to 
produce a male and a female; sometimes she lays only one, 
and very rarely three. The eggs are of a dirty-white colour 
with reddish spots. The young are produced after thirty 
days’ incubation. When they come out of the shell, they 
are covered with a white down ; and their first feathers are 
of a pale yellow. They are exceedingly voracious; and the 
old ones, though they drive them from the eyrie as soon as 
they are able to shift for themselves, are, up to that period, 
equally assiduous in finding them food, and bold in defend- 
ing them from attack. The vicinity of an Eagle’s nest is 
usually indeed a scene of blood, as the prey, if not killed 
by the blow of the wing or the clutch of the talons, is car- 
ried to the ledge that contains the nest, and despatched 
there. 
Of the boldness of the Eagles at that time, many stories 
are told; and they are so universal, that there must be some 
foundation for them. When the old ones are at the nest, 
the boldest fowler dares not approach it, as one flap of the 
