432 
THE LIVING WORLD. 
The Sea Eagle (. Halicztus albicilla ) is European in its habitat, and although: 
a fisherman by calling, is very fond of fawns, hares, sheep and poultry, and has 
been known to devour the hedge-hog. The Bald-headed Eagle, or the White- 
headed Eagle (. Halicztus leucocephaLus) , is a well-known symbol to every Ameri¬ 
can. Its head is not at all bald, but as its white is in such sharp contrast 
with the chocolate-color of the rest of the body, the first impression is that the 
feathers stop before they reach the head. Franklin objected to the selection of 
the bald-headed eagle as the American symbol, for he dwelt only upon its habit 
of robbing the fish hawks, but those who overruled his opinion thought rather 
of the magnifi¬ 
cent strength, 
and aspiring 
flight of this 
monarch among 
the birds, whose 
form, flight, 
strength and 
exulting cry all 
make him re¬ 
markable in the 
animal world. 
Wilson, in 
his American 
Ornithology, 
gives the fol¬ 
lowing spirited 
description of 
the bald or 
white-head ed 
eagle: 
“ The cele¬ 
brated cataract 
of Niagara is 
a noted place 
of resort for 
those birds, as 
NORTH AMERICAN BALD EAGLE ( HalicztuS leucocephdlus). well on account 
of the fish pro¬ 
cured there, as for the numerous carcases of squirrels, deer, bears, and various 
other animals, that in their attempts to cross the river above the falls have 
been dragged into the current and precipitated down that tremendous gulf, 
where, among the rocks that bound the rapids below, they furnish a rich 
repast for the vulture, the raven, and the bald eagle , the subject of the present 
account. 
“This bird has been long known to naturalists, being common to both conti¬ 
nents, and occasionally met with from a very high northern latitude to the 
borders of the torrid zone, but chiefly in the vicinity of the sea, and along the 
shores and cliffs of our lakes and large rivers. Formed by nature for braving 
the severest cold; feeding equally on the produce of the sea and of the land; 
