AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
[February, 
THE EAGLES 
noble bird, and that our early Congress made a mistake 
in selecting him. When he has on his company manners, 
the eagle is a very fine-looking bird. If he has had a 
good dinner and stands contentedly upon some elevated 
•rock, or if he has his dinner to search for, and is soaring 
high up, sweeping majestically upon his broad wings, he 
presents so noble an appearance, that we are quite willing 
to adopt him as our national emblem. In his domestic 
habits, in his moral character, the eagle is not to be ad- 
mired. Emperors and kings sometimes do very mean 
things, and very high dignitaries are often cross at home, 
especially when they are hnngry and dinner is late. This 
being the case, we shall not be surprised to learn that 
our eagle will steal from and tyrannize over birds weaker 
than himself, and that he is very quarrelsome with his 
equals. His conduct towards his humble relative, the 
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AND THE TEAL .—Drawn and Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
Fish-Hawk, though it is not unlike that of some rulers 
towards their subjects, is not to be excused by the fact 
that he is called king of birds. The Fish-Hawk gets its 
food by fair hunting: it sails above a lake quietly and 
patiently until it discovers a fish, and thcu, with almost 
the rapidity of lightning, it descends and seizes it. and 
starts off with the prey to feed its young. The poor Fish-^ 
Hawk docs not know that from some high point afar off 
the keen eye of an eagle has been watching its move- 
ments, but as soon as it is making off witli its fish, down 
comes the eagle on broad and swift wing, and the poor 
hawk has nothing to do but give up its hard-earned dinner 
to the stronger bird. In fact, our noble eagle gets the 
greater part of his living by stealing. Our artist lias 
made the quarrelsome character of the eagle serve him 
for a subject of a very spirited and beautiful picture. As 
it is an equal match, it represents the eagle in a rather 
better light than he shows in when robbing a smaller 
bird. An eagle having caught a teal is met by another, 
•who is hungry enough to fight for the possession of the 
bird. In the heat of the fight the poor captive struggles 
andregains its liberty with the loss of its tail feathers. 
Of course, our sympathies are all with the poor teal, and 
we are glad to sec him escape. The eagles, though they 
make a flue picture, certainly do not look amiable. We 
hope that this picture does not convey any lesson to our 
boys and girls. We don't believe that any of them ever 
wrangled over the possession of a toy to such an extent 
that the mother took it away from both, and so, like the 
eagles, theylost in the quarrel the thing that caused the 
difficulty. Oh 1 no. Our boys and girls never do such 
thiugs. If you don't believe it, ask their mothers. 
