BALD EAGLE. 
DJ 
quite round, exceedingly heavy, and of a dii-ty 'white color. Of 
the precise time of building we have no account, but something 
may be deduced from the following circumstance. In the month 
of May, while on a shooting excursion along the seacoast, not far 
from Great Egg-Harbor, accompanied by my friend Mr. Ord, we 
were conducted about a mile into the woods to see an Eagle’s nest. 
On approaching within a short distance of the place, the bird was 
perceived slowly reti-eating from the nest, which we found oc- 
cupied the centre of the top of a very large yellow pine. The 
woods were cut down, and cleared off, for several rods around the 
spot, which circumstance gave the stately erect trunk, and large 
crooked wriggling branches of the tree, surmounted by a black 
mass of sticks and brush, a very singular and picturesque eftcct. 
Our conductor had brought an axe with him to cut down the tree ; 
but my companion, anxious to save the eggs, or young, insisted on 
ascending to the nest, which he fearlessly performed, wlule we sta- 
tioned ourselves below, ready to defend him in case of an attack 
from the old Eagles. No opposition, however, was offered ; and 
on reaching the nest, it was found, to our disappointment, empty. 
It was built of large sticks, some of them several feet in length ; 
within it lay sods of earth, sedge, grass, dry reeds, &c. piled to the 
height of five or six feet, by more than four in breadth ; it was 
well lined with fresh pine tops, and had little or no concavity. 
Under this lining lay the recent exuviae of the young of the pre- 
sent year, such as scales of the quill feathers, down, &c. Our guide 
had passed this place late in February, at which time both male 
and female were making a great noise about the nest ; and from 
what we afterwards learnt, it is highly probable it contained young, 
even at that early time of the season. 
A few miles from this is another Eagle’s nest, built also on a 
pine tree, which, from the information received from the proprie- 
tor of the woods, had been long the residence of tliis family of 
Eagles. The tree on which the nest was originally built had been 
