EAGLES 
Swift and powerful in its flight, the bald or American eagle is master of 
its haunts, knowing no enemy but man. Because of its strength and grace, 
and because it inhabits so large a part of the North American continent, it 
was chosen as the American national emblem. 
The bald eagle usually makes its home near a body of water, since 
its chief food is fish. To catch these, it plunges from a great height at an 
angle to its prey, occasionally going beneath the surface. Sometimes its 
powerful claws kill fish so large the bird cannot lift them, and then it 
tows them ashore. Most spectacular is its manner of robbing the osprey or 
fish-hawk of its prey. The osprey seeks to escape its mighty enemy by soar¬ 
ing to great heights, but the eagle circles about, just below it, until finally 
the hawk is compelled to drop the fish which impedes its flight. The eagle 
then catches its dinner in mid-air. In Alaska the voracious bird is hated 
by fishermen, who accuse it of devouring the salmon as they leap up the 
waterfalls and shallows. Yet despite their strength, they are great eaters of 
dead mammals and regularly search the ocean shores for dead fish. 
Bald eagles nest on cliffs or in large trees in the vicinity of water. The 
nests are large structures of sticks, usually five to six feet in diameter and 
of the same height, though there have been reports of nests as high as 
twelve feet. These structures are strong enough to bear a man’s weight. 
Usually two eggs are laid, sometimes one or three. These are two to three 
inches in length; when there are two of them, one is almost always larger 
than the other. Incubation takes almost a month, male and female sharing 
the labor. The eagle is very much attached to its home; if its eggs are 
stolen, the bird will return frequently to its nest. If one bird is killed, the 
survivor takes a new mate and occupies the same nest. 
The young remain in the nest for about two and one-half months. In 
the first year they are a streaked brown and gray color; later they are 
heavily barred with black, and it is not until their third year that they 
acquire the adult plumage, uniform dusky brown, with tail, neck and head 
a pure white. 
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