20 
BALD EAGLE. 
for time immemorial, or at least ever since he remembered, inha- 
bited by these Eagles. Some of his sons cut down this tree to pro- 
cure the young, which were two in number; and the Eagles soon 
after commenced building another nest on the very next adjoining 
tree, thus exhibiting a very particular attachment to the spot. The 
Eagles, he says, make it a kind of home and lodging place in all 
seasons. This man asserts, that the Gray, or Sea Eagles, are the 
young of the Bald Eagle, and that they are several years old be- 
fore tliey begin to breed. It does not drive its young from the 
nest like the Osprey, or Fish-Hawk ; but continues to feed them 
long after they leave it. 
The bird from which the figure in the plate was drawn, and 
which is reduced to one-third the size of life, measured three feet 
in length, and upwards of seven feet in extent. The bill was 
formed exactly like that of the Bald Eagle, but of a dusky brown 
color ; cere and legs bright yellow ; the latter, as in the Bald Eagle, 
feathered a little below the knee ; irides a bright straw color ; head 
above, neck and back streaked with light brown, deep brown and 
white, the plumage being white, tipt and centred with brown; 
scapulars brown ; lesser wing-coverts very pale, intermixed with 
white ; primaries black, their shafts brownish white ; rump pale 
brownish white ; tail rounded, somewhat longer than the wings 
when shut, brown on the exterior vanes, the inner ones white, 
sprinkled with dirty brown ; throat, breast and belly white, dashed 
and streaked with different tints of brown and pale yellow; vent 
brown, tipt with white ; femorals dark brown, tipt with lighter ; 
auriculars brown, forming a bar from below the eye backwards ; 
plumage of the neck long, narrow and pointed, as is usual with 
Eagles, and of a brownish color tipt with white. 
I'he Sea Eagle is said by various authors to hunt at night as 
well as during the day, and that besides fish it feeds on chickens, 
birds, hares and other animals. It is also said to catch fish during 
the night ; and that the noise of its plunging into the water is heard 
