74 
BIRDS OF PREY. 
young are hatched at different periods. Lawson, however, 
says, that they breed so often as to commence laying again 
under their callow young, whose warmth assists the hatch- 
ing of the eggs. This eyry or breeding-place continues to 
be perpetually occupied and repaired as long as the tree 
endures ; indeed their attachment to particular places 
is so strong, that after their habitation has been de- 
molished, by the destruction of the tree that supported 
it, they have very contentedly taken possession of an 
adjoining one. Nor is the period of incubation the only 
time spent in the nest by this species ; it is a shelter 
and common habitation at all times and seasons, being a 
home like the hut to the savage, or the cottage to the 
peasant. 
The helpless young, as might be supposed, are fed 
with great attention, and supplied with such a superflu- 
ity of fish and other matters, that they often lie scattered 
around the tree, producing the most putrid and noisome 
effluvia. The young are at first clothed with a whitish 
down ; they gradually become grey, and continue of a 
brownish grey until the 3d year, when the characteristic 
white of the head and tail becomes perfectly developed. 
As their food is abundant, the young are not forcibly 
driven from the nest, but fed for some time after they 
have left it. They are by no means shy or timorous, 
will often permit a near approach, and sometimes even 
bristle up their feathers in an attitude of daring defence. 
Their cry is sonorous and lamentable, like thatjof the 
Great Eagle, and when asleep they are said to make a 
very audible snoring sound. 
The principal food of the Bald Eagle is fish, and though 
he possesses every requisite of alertness and keenness of 
vision for securing his prey, it is seldom that he obtains 
it by any other means than stratagem and rapine. For 
