THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 
51 
Their notes are harsh and sharp, resembling at times the barking of a dog, 
especially about the breeding-season, when they become extremely noisy and 
turbulent, flying more swiftly than at other times, alighting more frequently, 
and evincing a fretfulness which is not so observable after their eggs are laid. 
They are capable of remaining without food for several days at a time, 
and eat voraciously whenever they find an opportunity. Young fawns, 
racoons, hares, wild turkeys, and other large birds, are their usual food ; 
and they devour putrid flesh only when hard pressed by hunger, none 
alighting on carrion at any other time. They are nice in cleaning the 
skin or plucking the feathers of their prey, although they swallow their 
food in large pieces, often mixed with hair and bones, which they after- 
wards disgorge. They are muscular, strong, and hardy, capable of- 
bearing extreme cold without injury, and of pursuing their avocations in 
the most tempestuous weather. A full grown female weighs about twelve 
pounds, the male about two pounds and a half less. This species seldom 
removes far from its place of residence, and the attachment of two indivi- 
duals of different sexes appears to continue for years. 
They do not obtain the full beauty of their plumage until the fourth yeay, 
the Ring-tailed Eagle of authors being the young in the dress of the second 
and third years. Our north-western Indians are fond of ornamenting their 
persons and implements of war with the tail-feathers of this Eagle, which 
they kill expressly for that purpose. 
I conclude my account of this species with an anecdote relating to it given 
in one of Dr. Rush’s lectures upon the effects of fear on man. During the 
revolutionary war, a company of soldiers were stationed near the highlands 
of the Hudson river. A Golden Eagle had placed her nest in a cleft of 
the rocks half way between the summit and the river. A soldier was let 
down by his companions suspended by a rope fastened around his body. 
When he reached the nest, he suddenly found himself attacked by the 
Eagle ; in self-defence he drew the only weapon about him, his knife, and 
made repeated passes at the bird, when accidentally he cut the rope 
almost off. It began unravelling ; those above hastily drew him up, and* 
relieved him from his perilous situation at the moment when he expected 
to be precipitated to the bottom. The Doctor stated that so powerful was 
the effect of the fear the soldier had experienced whilst in danger, that ere 
three days had elapsed his hair became quite grey. 
Falco fulvus, Bonap. Syn., p. 25. 
Aquila Chrysaetos, Golden Eagle, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer., voL ii. p. 12 
Ring-tailed Eagle, Falco fulvus , Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. vii. p. 13. 
Royal or Golden Eagle, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 62. 
Golden Eagle, Falco Chrysaetos , Aud, Orn. Biog., vol. ii. p. 464. 
