THE RING-TAIL, OR GOLDEN EAGLE. 267 
might and courage; and the young 1 Indian warrior 
glories in his eagle plume as the most honourable 
ornament with which he can adorn himself. Its 
feathers are attached to the calumets, or smoking 
pipes, used by the Indians in the celebration of their 
solemn festivals, which has obtained for it the name of 
the calumet eagle. Indeed, so highly are these orna- 
ments prized, that a warrior will often exchange a 
valuable horse for the tail feathers of a single eagle. 
The strength of vision of this bird must almost exceed 
conception, for it can discover its prey and pounce 
upon it from a height at which it is itself, with its 
expanded wings, scarcely visible to the human eye. 
When looking for its prey, it sails in large circles, 
with its tail spread out, but with little motion of its 
wings ; and it often soars aloft in a spiral manner, its 
gyrations becoming gradually less and less perceptible, 
until it dwindles to a mere speck, and is at length 
entirely lost to the view. A story is current, on the 
plains of the Saskatchewan, of a half-breed Indian, who 
was vaunting his prowess before a band of his country- 
men, and wishing to impress them with a belief of his 
supernatural powers. In the midst of his harangue 
an eagle was observed suspended as it were in the air, 
directly over his head, upon which, pointing aloft with 
his dagger, which glistened brightly in the sun, he 
called on the royal bird to come down. * To his own 
amazement, no less than the consternation of the sur- 
rounding Indians, the eagle seemed to obey the charm, 
for instantly, shooting down with the velocity of an 
arrow, it impaled itself on the point of his weapon !” 
5 . FALCO LEUCOCEPHALUS . 
THE WHITE-HEADED EAGLE, OR BALD EAGLE. 
AUDUBON, PLATE XXXI. MALE. 
To the delightful history of this bird given by Wilson, 
vol. 1, p. 22, we have pleasure in adding that of 
Audubon, which will enable our readers to form an 
