The White-headed Eagle. 
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THE WHITE-HEADED, OE BALD EAGLE. 
(Haliaetus leucocejpltalus.) 
This bird is about three feet long, and seven feet broad, 
measuring to the tips of the extended wings. The bill 
resembles that of the golden eagle, and from the chin 
hang some small hairy feathers like a beard. As it is 
found alike in the frigid and the torrid zone, it is pro- 
vided for enduring rapid changes of temperature, and 
its whole body is clothed under the feathers with a kind 
of down, white and soft like that of the swan. This bird 
builds its nest on lofty cliffs by the sea-shore, and on 
the banks of rivers or lakes, and feeds almost entirely 
upon fish. 
It is generally regarded by the Anglo-Americans with 
peculiar respect, as the chosen emblem of their native 
land. The great cataract of Niagara is mentioned as one 
of its favourite places of resort, not merely as a fishing 
station, where it is enabled to satiate its hunger upon 
its most congenial food, but also in consequence of the 
vast quantity of four-footed beasts, which, unwarily 
venturing into the stream above, are borne away by 
