104 
WILD AMERICANS 
eat the fish and other game the parent birds bring. 
They tear it to pieces with their sharp claws and 
curved beaks/’ 
After the Blair family had made camp at the end 
of that day, Uncle Ely and the children looked long 
at the sky for eagles, but they saw only one, soaring 
very high. They watched often during the following 
week there, without further success. Uncle Ely was 
very much disappointed. He knew that thoughtless 
men have been shooting eagles for many years, so 
that these birds are very hard to find, although once 
they were to be seen in every part of our country. 
The American eagle has been called the sky king, 
because he is such a large, strong bird that he can 
rule the air. He flies high over mountains and vah 
leys, and his castle nest is high in the air. He has 
few enemies, except man. 
At the end of their week at the wilderness lake, 
Uncle Ely suddenly had an idea. 
"Children,” he called to Buck and Ginger, "I fon 
got to tell you one thing about the eagle. We have 
a United States coin named for him. It is made of 
gold. We don’t see this coin outside of banks very 
often, but we call it an 'eagle,’ and it is worth ten 
dollars.” 
