This mighty bird of lofty flight is a native of the whole of North
America, and may be seen haunting the greater portions of the sea
coasts, as well as the mouths of large rivers. He is sometimes called
the White-headed Eagle, the American Sea Eagle, the Bird of Washington,
the Washington Eagle, and the Sea Eagle. On account of the snowy white
of his head and neck, the name Bald Eagle has been applied to him more
generally than any other.
Sea-faring men are partial to young Eagles as pets, there being a well
established superstition among them that the ship that carries the "King
of Birds" can never go down. The old Romans, in selecting the Eagle as
an emblem for their imperial standard, showed this superstitious belief,
regarding him as the favorite messenger of Jupiter, holding communion
with heaven. The Orientals, too, believed that the feathers of the
Eagle's tail rendered their arrows invincible. The Indian mountain
tribes east of Tennessee venerated the Eagle as their bird of war, and
placed a high value on his feathers, which they used for headdresses and
to decorate their pipes of peace.
The United States seems to have an abiding faith in the great bird, as
our minted dollars show.
The nest of the Bald Eagle is usually placed upon the top of a giant
tree, standing far up on the side of a mountain, among myriads of
twining vines, or on the summit of a high inaccessible rock. The nest in
the course of years, becomes of great size as the Eagle lays her eggs
year after year in the same nest, and at each nesting season adds new
material to the old nest. It is strongly and comfortably built with
large sticks and branches, nearly flat, and bound together with twining
vines. The spacious interior is lined with hair and moss, so minutely
woven together as to exclude the wind. The female lays two eggs of a
brownish red color, with many dots and spots, the long end of the egg
tapering to a point. The parents are affectionate, attend to their young
as long as they are helpless and unfledged, and will not forsake them
even though the tree on which they rest be enveloped in flames. When the
Eaglets are ready to fly, however, the parents push them from the perch
and trust them to the high atmospheric currents. They turn them out, so
to speak, to shift for themselves.
The Bald Eagle has an accommodating appetite, eating almost anything
that has ever had life. He is fond of fish, without being a great
fisher, preferring to rob the Fish-hawk of the fruits of his skillful
labor. Sitting upon the side of a mountain his keen vision surveys
the plain or valley, and detects a sheep, a young goat, a fat turkey
or rooster, a pig, a rabbit or a large bird, and almost within an
eye-twinkle he descends upon his victim. A mighty grasp, a twist of his
talons, and the quarry is dead long before the Eagle lays it down for a
repast. The impetuosity and skill with which he pursues, overtakes and
robs the Fish-hawk, and the swiftness with which the Bald Eagle darts
down upon and seizes the booty, which the Hawk has been compelled to let
go, is not the least wonderful part of this striking performance.
The longevity of the Eagle is very great, from 80 to 160 years.