WHITE-HEADED, OR BALD EAGLE. 
91 
as well on account of the fish procured there, as for the 
numerous carcasses of squirrels, deer, bears, and various 
other animals, that, in their attempts to cross the river above 
Swan is passing the dreaded pair, starts from his perch, in full preparation for 
the chase, the male bird, with an awful scream. 
“ Now is the moment to witness a display of the Eagle’s powers. He glides 
through the air like a falling star, and, like a flash of lightning, comes upon 
the timorous quarry, which now, in agony and despair, seeks, by various 
manoeuvres, to elude the grasp of his cruel talons. It mounts, doubles, and 
willingly would plunge into the stream, were it not prevented by the Eagle, 
which, long possessed of the knowledge that, by such a stratagem, the Swan 
might escape him, forces it to remain in the air, by attempting to strike it 
with his talons from beneath. The hope of escape is soon given up by the 
Swan. It has already become much weakened, and its strength fails at the 
sight of the courage and swiftness of its antagonist. Its last gasp is about 
to escape, when the ferocious Eagle strikes with his talons the under side of its 
wing, and, with unresisted power, forces the bird to fall in a slanting direction 
upon the nearest shore.” 
And, again, when hunting in concert after some bird which has alighted on 
the water : — 
“ At other times, when these Eagles, sailing in search of prey, discover a 
Goose, a Duck, or a Swan, that has alighted on the water, they accomplish its 
destruction in a manner that is worthy of our attention. Well aware that 
water-fowl have it in their power to dive at their approach, and thereby 
elude their attempts upon them, they ascend in the air, in opposite directions, 
over the lake or river on which the object which they are desirous of possess- 
ing has been observed. Both reach a certain height, immediately after which, 
one of them glides with great swiftness towards the prey ; the latter, mean- 
time, aware of the Eagle’s intention, dives the moment before he reaches the 
spot. The pursuer then rises in the air, and is met by its mate, which glides 
toward the water-bird, that has just emerged to breathe, and forces it to plunge 
again beneath the surface, to escape the talons of this second assailant. The 
first Eagle is now poising itself in the place where its mate formerly was, and 
rushes anew, to force the quarry to make another plunge. By thus alternately 
gliding, in rapid and often repeated rushes, over the ill-fated bird, they soon 
fatigue it, when it stretches out its neck, swims deeply, and makes for the 
shore, in the hope of concealing itself among the rank weeds. But this is of 
no avail ; for the Eagles follow it in all its motions ; and the moment it 
approaches the margin, one of them darts upon it.” 
The Bald Eagle was met with in the overland arctic expedition, but, towards 
the north, was only a summer visitant ; in the Fur Countries, it is one of the 
earliest, arriving in the month of March, which has thence received the name of 
