The white-headed eagle takes precedence among the feathered tribes of
America,--because he stands first in natural order, and has been
selected by the people of the United States as their heraldic emblem.
Their choice was, by-the-by, objected to by Benjamin Franklin, on the
plea "that it is a bird of bad moral character, and does not get his
living honestly." There was justice in the remark, for the bald eagle
is a determined robber, and a perfect tyrant. He is, however, a
magnificent bird, when seen with wings expanded, nearly eight feet from
tip to tip--and a body three and a half feet in length--his snowy-white
head and neck shining in the sun, and his large, hooked, yellow beak
open as he espies, afar off, the fish-hawk emerging from the ocean with
his struggling prey. Downward he pounces with rapid flight. The
fish-hawk sees his enemy approaching, and attempts to escape; but, laden
with the fish he has just captured, in spite of the various evolutions
he performs, he is soon overtaken by the savage freebooter. With a
scream of despair he drops the fish.
The eagle poises himself for a moment, as if to take more certain aim,
then, descending like a whirlwind, snatches it ere it reaches the water.
The plumage of the bald eagle is of a chocolate-brown, inclining to
black along the back, while the bill and upper tail-coverts are of the
same white hue as the head and neck. He and his mate build their nest
in some lofty tree amid a swamp; and repairing it every season, it
becomes of great size. Its position is generally known by the offensive
odour arising from the number of fish scattered around, which they have
let drop after their predatory excursions. The nest is roughly formed
of large sticks, moss, roots, and tufts of grass. They commence making
fresh additions to their nest early in the year; and the female deposits
her eggs in January, and hatches the young by the middle of the
following month. Robbers as they are, the white-headed eagles exhibit
great parental affection, tending their young as long as they are
helpless and unfledged; nor will they forsake them even should the tree
in which their nest is built be surrounded by flames. Wilson, the
American naturalist, mentions seeing a tree cut down in order to obtain
an eagle's nest. The parent birds continued flying clamorously round,
and could with difficulty be driven away from the bodies of their
fledgelings, killed by the fall of the lofty pine.
Audubon gives us an account of a savage attack he once witnessed made by
an eagle and his mate on a swan:--The fierce eagle, having marked the
snow-white bird as his prey, summons his companion. As the swan is
passing near the dreaded pair, the eagle, in preparation for the chase,
starts from his perch on a tall pine, with an awful scream, that to the
swan brings more terror than, the report of the largest duck-gun. Now
is the moment to witness the display of the eagle's power. He glides
through the air like a falling star, and comes upon the timorous quarry,
which now, in agony and despair, seeks by varied manoeuvres to elude the
grasp of his cruel talons. Now it mounts, now doubles, and would
willingly plunge into the stream, were it not prevented by the eagle,
who, knowing that by such a stratagem the swan might escape him, forces
it to remain in the air by his attempts to strike it with his talons
from beneath. The swan has already become much weakened, and its
strength fails at sight of the courage and swiftness of its antagonist.
At one moment it seems about to escape, when the ferocious eagle strikes
with his talons the under side of its wing, and with an unresisted power
forces the bird to fall in a slanting direction upon the nearest shore.
Pouncing downwards, the eagle is soon joined by his mate, when they turn
the body of the luckless swan upwards, and tear it open with their
talons.
Along all the coasts of North America, as also at the mouths of the
chief rivers, the white-headed eagle is found watching for his prey. An
instance is mentioned of one of these savage birds being entrapped, and
falling a victim to his voracity. Having pursued a wild duck to a piece
of freshly-formed ice, he pitched upon it, and began tearing his prey to
pieces, when the mass on which he stood continuing to freeze, his feet
became fixed in the ice. Having vainly endeavoured with his powerful
wings to rise in the air, he ultimately perished miserably.