THE EAGLE. 
Bird of the broad and sweeping- wing, 
Thy home is high in heaven, 
Where wide the storms their banners fling, 
And the tempest clouds are driven. 
THE bald eagle became the bird 
of our nation in the year 1873. 
It is at home in all parts 
of North America. Its nest in 
the top of a lofty tree is a common 
landmark in Maine, and on the great 
mountain peaks of the western states 
the nest is usually placed upon the 
rock where no man nor beast is able to 
climb. 
The American eagle lives in America 
only, but an eagle living in the Old 
World looks very much like it. The 
American bird is larger than the one 
found in Europe. It is believed that 
the bird of our country sometimes 
visits Europe, for an eagle is seen 
there at times that seems to be our own 
bald eagle. 
The birds that have beaks and claws 
like those of the eagle are very 
much like the cat family upon the 
ground. They are all fierce hunters 
and live upon weaker animals and 
birds. The greatest of all the cat fam- 
ily is the lion, the king of beasts. The 
greatest of the cats of the air is the 
eagle, and he is called the king of 
birds. 
As the cats have claws and teeth for 
catching and tearing their prey so the 
eagles have beaks and talons which 
are strong and sharp. The cats come 
quickly upon their prey without the 
least noise. So do the eagles. They 
come down from the sky like lightning 
and nothing is swift enough to get 
away, unless it is warned of the eagle's 
coming. 
An eagle sometimes lives to be over 
one hundred years old. Many years 
ago it was said that an eagle never 
dies of sickness nor of old age, but that 
its beak grows out of shape in its last 
years so that it cannot eat. 
All people have admired the eagle. 
The Indians of America have always 
liked to wear the feathers of the king 
of birds, and in Scotland the chief was 
known by the feather of an eagle 
which he wore in his bonnet. 
— Pcrcival. 
It often happens that a young eagle 
looks much larger than its father or 
mother. This is because the first feath- 
ers of the wings and tail are longer than 
the ones that grow in their place when 
the young eagle has once shed them. 
The young eagle is also darker than 
the old one. This is why some people 
have made mistakes in writing about 
them without knowing a young eagle 
from an old one. 
Eagles of the same kind are not 
always of the same color. Some are 
darker than others and the markings 
are not alike. Some young eagles 
shed their downy feathers early and 
wear the dress of grown-up birds. 
Others keep some or all of their baby 
feathers five or six years. And there 
are some very old eagles still wearing 
some of the downy feathers of their 
first dresses. 
Eagles kept in cages lose some of 
their fierce ways and change the colors 
of their dress. But they do not forget 
that they are eagles. A large cat 
once went under the bars of an eagle's 
cage to get the meat which had not 
been eaten by the bird. Down came 
the eagle, tore the cat to pieces, and 
ate him in a hurry. 
The bald eagle is very fond of fish. 
I have seen him on a bright day sailing 
high above a lake where I was fishing. 
He was so slow and lazy that I did not 
think he was fishing too. But when he 
saw a fine large fish near the top of 
the water he came down like a flash, 
struck his claws into the fish, and flew 
away to his mate in atree upon the land. 
Sometimes the eagle gets the fish 
hawk to do the work for him. Wait- 
ing oh the branch of some tree upon 
the shore he sees the fish hawk flying 
about over the water looking for his 
prey. As soon as a fish has been caught 
and the hawk is coming ashore to eat 
it, the eagle frightens the hawk so as 
to make him drop his fish. Then the 
eagle catches it again before it strikes 
the water. 
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