39© SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 
on hares, grouse and other game, and seldom, if ever, catches 
fish. 
Aquila leucocephala, The Bald Eagle.—This well known 
bird, the “ American Eagle” by pre-eminence, seems hardly 
worthy of his place as the emblem of the United States. 
Though in appearance, in elegance and strength of figure, in 
rapidity of flight, and keenness of vision, he is inferior to none 
of his race, the truth compels the confession that his private 
character is tinctured with some unworthy vices. His appe¬ 
tite is dreadfully voracious, and when it cannot be otherwise 
satisfied, he contents himself with attacking the vultures, and 
devouring the disgusting contents of their maws, after com¬ 
pelling them to disgorge by repeated blows on their backs. 
He is also a complete pirate in his warfare with the honest 
fish-hawk, often forcing the latter, by dint of superior size and 
strength, to give up his well earned, long watched for, and 
skilfully secured prey of fish, which he devours with great 
zest. He is a very expert fisher himself, however, and the 
weight of his victim is sometimes really surprising. The 
haunts of this eagle are about streams which contain its 
favorite food, where it may often be seen perched on the over¬ 
hanging limb of a dead tree, keeping vigilant watch on the 
water below, and along the coast, near the mouths of creeks 
and inlets of the sea. The voice is a shrill scream or whistle 
which may be heard a£ a great distance. The young are 
generally from two to four in number, and they remain a long 
time in the nest. Great confusion has been produced in 
nomenclature by the frequent mistakes arising from the variety 
of color in this bird, a variety which seems to depend solely 
upon age. The first plumage is of a brownish black color, 
which in the ensuing summer becomes a dark and speckled 
grey, and it is not till the third year that it assumes the pure 
and brilliant white of the head and neck, which has given it 
the epithet of “ Bald,” and the deep black of the rest of the 
body. The bald eagle is about three feet in length, and 
