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and robuft ; their legs and wings are ftrong, and their 
feathers hard ; their movements quick, and flight rapid. 
Hence, of all birds, the eagle flies higheft in the air ; for 
which he obtained from the ancients, the name of the 
bird of heaven, and was regarded in their omens as the 
meffenger of Jove. His fenfe of fight is alfo exquifite ; 
but in that of fmelling, he is far inferior to the vulture. 
He greedily feizes geefe, cranes, lambs, and kids ; and, 
when he attacks fawns or calves, it is to glut himfelf 
with blood upon the fpot, and to carry away pieces of 
their fleth to his airie, which is the epithet given to his 
neft. It is aflerted, that the fame neft ferves the eagle 
- *©the whole of its life ; and it feems indeed to be of fuch 
a bulk, and of fuch durable materials, that a frequent 
repair is hardly neceflary. It is commonly of a flat form, 
built upon the dry and inacceflible part of a rock, lined 
with feveral layers of reeds or brambles feveral feet in 
breadth, and of fuch ftrength as may fupport, not only 
the eagle and her young, but alfo a large quantity of food, 
which (he lays round it in (lore for them. In the middle 
of this airie, the female depofits two or three eggs, which 
(lie broods over for thirty days : rarely, however, are 
the whole even of that fmall number productive ; two, 
and fometimes one, eaglet, is the extent of her family ; 
the fmaller kinds, indeed, are more prolific; but the 
whole race is reftrained by infecundity. It is reported 
that they fometimes (till farther diminifh the number of 
their offspring, by putting to death the molt feeble, or 
molt voracious. It is certain, that they are no fooner 
able to fly, thaD they banifh them from the neft, without 
ever allowing them to return. Famine, or paucity of 
food, is probably the motive of a conduct feemingly fo 
repugnant to nature. 
Eagles are remarkably voracious at all times, but par¬ 
ticularly in the breeding feafon. It is then that they 
fpread devallation among the kids, lambs, and all forts of 
game. Smith, in his IJiftory of Kerry, in Ireland, re¬ 
lates that a poor man in that country got a comfortable 
fubfiftence for his family, during a fummer of famine, by 
robbing the eaglets of the food that was carried to the 
neft by the parents. He ingenioitfly protracted the time 
of the imbecility of the young, by clipping their wings, 
and retarding their flight. But if what is related by 
Dr. Goldfmith be true, this is rather a dangerous under¬ 
taking j for, had the old eagles furprifed the countryman 
while thus employed, their revenge might have proved 
fatal to him. “ It happened fome time ago, (fays that 
writer,) in the fame country, that a peafant had refolved 
to rob the neft of an eagle, in a fmall ifland in the beau¬ 
tiful lake of Killarney. He accordingly ftripped, and 
fwam to the ifland while the old ones were away ; and, 
having robbed the neft of its young, he was preparing to 
fwim back, with the eaglets tied in a ftring ; but, while 
he was yet up to his chin in the water, the old eagles re¬ 
turned, and milling their young, quickly fell upon the 
plunderer; and, in fpite of all his refiftance, di(patched 
hint with their beaks and talons.” 
Martin, in his Hiftory of the Weftern Ifles, records in. 
Itances of two children being carried off by eagles at the 
breeding feafon ; but the theft was difcovered in time, 
and the children were reftored unhurt out of the nefts 
to their affrighted parents. Perhaps it was from fome 
daring adventure of this kind, that the fable took its 
rife-, of Ganymede’s being fnatched up to heaven by an 
eagle. But it is moft probable that the whole is fable. 
Eagles, however, feem to have been extremely numerous 
and deftructive in the northern parts of Britain. Cam¬ 
den mentions a law in the Orkney ifles, which entitles 
every perfon that kills an eagle to a hen out of every 
houle of the pari(h where the feat was done. 
The colours of the plumage of the eaglets are not fo 
ftrong as they afterwards become in their adult date ; at 
firft they are white, afterwards of a pale yellow, and then 
of a deeper and brighter hue. Age, famine, captivity, 
and difeafes, make tham gradually whiter. Eagles are 
L C O. 
not lefs remarkable for their power of fuftaining a lorg 
abftinence from food, than for their longevity. Mr. 
Keyfier relates that an eagle died at Vienna after a con¬ 
finement of one hundred and four years. This pre-emi¬ 
nent length of days probably gave occafion to the faying 
of the Pfalmift, Thy youth is renewed, like the eagle’s. Mr. 
Pennant mentions one in the po(feffion of Owen Holland, 
efq. of Conway, which he had kept for nine years, and 
the gentleman from whom he received it, thirty-two. 
To the latter it had been fent from Ireland, but at what 
age is not known. The abftinence of this bird was 
cruelly tried by the negleCt of fervants, who had fuffered 
it to endure hunger for twenty-one days, without (hewing 
any figns of leannefs or decay. Eagles, when tamed, 
M. BufFon aflerts, can be fed with any flefli whatever, 
even with that of their own fpecies ; this is confirmed by 
Vaillant : and, on a deficiency of flefli, they will devour 
bread, ferpents, or lizards. When they are but imper¬ 
fectly tamed, they attack dogs, cats, and every creature 
that attempts to approach them : their fiercenefs is ren¬ 
dered more alarming by the thrill, piercing, and lament¬ 
able, cries which they utter : they drink but feldom, and 
when in a (late of freedom probably not at all ; the blood 
of animals then ferves to quench their third. Yet the 
eagle, in a (late of nature, however much famiftied, will 
not (loop to carrion, nor to any food but its own prey 
and, when fatiated, never returns to the fame carcafe 
again, but leaves it to other animals, more rapacious, 
and lefs delicate. Equally lolitary with the lion, he in¬ 
habits a defert, of which he ufurps the dominion, and 
drives away every other bird from chacing there; for it 
is as rare to find two pair of eagles upon the fame moun¬ 
tain, as two families of lions in the fame den. 
I. Bill hooked only at the point ; bearded at the bafe with ex¬ 
tended briflles. This divifion Gmelin calls Gypaeti, ob- 
ferving that the fpecies form a connecting link between 
the vultures and the eagles and falcons. They prefer 
flefli, and will feed upon (lieep, hares, ferpents, fifli, &c. 
even in a (late of putridity, while the eagles and hawks 
prefer birds, and refufe carrion, unlefs very hungry. 
i. Falco ferpentarius, the ferpent-eater. Specific cha¬ 
racter, body black, hind head crefied ; tail-feathers white 
at the tips, the two middle ones longed ; legs very long. 
A want of accurate examinations, added to the uncertain 
accounts of travellers, and (till more to the inexperience 
and deficiency of knowledge in authors who have written 
upon this bird, have occalioned it to be placed in-general 
among the vultures ; fecretary vulture is its moft common 
name. This rapacious animal is not only a deftroyer of 
ferpents, and of all oviparous quadrupeds, but alfo a com¬ 
plete warlike bird, voracious and intrepid ; in a word, a 
real bird of prey, armed with a ftrong hooked bill, a 
heavy robuft body, provided with moft deftruCtive wings, 
ferving to (hike down and murder its prey, inftead of 
(harp ftrong claws, of which it could make no ufe. The 
ferpent-eater therefore refembles the reft of the rapacious 
tribe in the (hape of the bill, the make of the body, and 
by its fanguinary and ferocious difpofition; but it is mo¬ 
dified in a manner proper for deftroying and feeding upon 
ferpents. By continually running on the ground, its nails 
are blunted ; its flight is heavy, and indeed aimoft unne. 
ceflary from its mode of living ; for it may be regarded as 
a terreftrial bird of prey, defigned by nature to clear the 
defects of Africa from the moft dangerous fnakes and vi¬ 
pers, or at lead to leffen their numbers ; doubtlefs to keep 
up a proper balance between thefe formidable reptiles 
and other animals ; a balance fo neceflary to be prelerved, 
as otherwife the earth would quickly be inhabited only 
by noxious beings. 
The ferpent-eater has long thighs and legs; thefe raife 
his body high from the ground, and more eafily protect 
him from the bite of thofe enemies with whom he fo qf- 
ten engages in combat. His (liort toes and blunt nails 
are not calculated for feizing and carrying off prey ; the 
feet are only ufeful in purfuing the ferpent, or in avoid* 
i ing 
