(From Wilson's _American Ornithology,_ judiciously re-printed in two
volumes of _Constable's Miscellany._)
[2] The epithet _bald_, applied to this species, whose
head is thickly covered with feathers, is equally improper and
absurd with the titles goatsucker, kingsfisher, &c. bestowed on
others, and seems to have been occasioned by the white appearance
of the head, when contrasted with, the dark colour of the rest of
the plumage. The appellation, however, being now almost
universal, is retained in the following pages.
This distinguished bird, as he is the most beautiful of his tribe in
this part of the world, and the adopted emblem of our country, is
entitled to particular notice. The celebrated Cataract of Niagara is a
noted place of resort for the bald eagle, as well on account of the
fish procured there, as for the numerous carcasses 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. He
has been long known to naturalists, being common to both continents,
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; possessing powers of flight
capable of outstripping even the tempests themselves; unawed by any
thing but man; and, from the ethereal heights to which he soars,
looking abroad, at one glance, on an immeasurable expanse of forests,
fields, lakes, and ocean, deep below him, he appears indifferent to
the little localities of change of seasons; as, in a few minutes, he
can pass from summer to winter, from the lower to the higher regions
of the atmosphere, the abode of eternal cold, and from thence descend,
at will, to the torrid, or the arctic regions of the earth. He is,
therefore, found at all seasons, in the countries he inhabits; but
prefers such places as have been mentioned above, from the great
partiality he has for fish.
In procuring these, he displays, in a very singular manner, the genius
and energy of his character, which is fierce, contemplative, daring,
and tyrannical; attributes not exerted but on particular occasions,
but, when put forth, overpowering all opposition. Elevated on the high
dead limb of some gigantic tree that commands a wide view of the
neighbouring shore and ocean, he seems calmly to contemplate the
motions of the various feathered tribes that pursue their busy
avocations below; the snow-white gulls slowly winnowing the air; the
busy fringes coursing along the sands; trains of ducks streaming over
the surface; silent and watchful cranes, intent and wading; clamorous
crows; and all the winged multitudes that subsist by the bounty of
this vast liquid magazine of nature. High over all these hovers one,
whose action instantly arrests his whole attention. By his wide
curvature of wing, and sudden, suspension in air, he knows him to be
the fish hawk, settling over some devoted victim of the deep. His eye
kindles at the sight, and, balancing himself, with half-opened wings,
on the branch, he watches the result. Down, rapid as an arrow from
heaven, descends the distant object of his attention, the roar of its
wings reaching the ear as it disappears in the deep, making the surges
foam around! At this moment, the eager looks of the eagle are all
ardour; and, levelling his neck for flight, he sees the fish hawk
once more emerge, struggling with his prey, and mounting in the air
with screams of exultation. These are the signals for our hero, who,
launching into the air, instantly gives chase, and soon gains on the
fish hawk; each exerts his utmost to mount above the other, displaying
in these rencontres the most elegant and sublime aerial evolutions.
The unencumbered eagle rapidly advances, and is just on the point of
reaching his opponent, when, with a sudden scream, probably of despair
and honest execration, the latter drops his fish; the eagle, poising
himself for a moment, as if to take a more certain aim, descends like
a whirlwind, snatches it in his grasp ere it reaches the water, and
bears his ill-gotten booty silently away to the woods.
These predatory attacks and defensive manoeuvres of the eagle and the
fish hawk, are matters of daily observation along the whole of our sea
board, from Georgia to New England, and frequently excite great
interest in the spectators. Sympathy, however, on this as on most
other occasions, generally sides with the honest and laborious
sufferer, in opposition to the attacks of power, injustice, and
rapacity, qualities for which our hero is so generally notorious, and
which, in his superior _man_, are certainly detestable. As for the
feelings of the poor fish, they seem altogether out of the question.
When driven, as he sometimes is, by the combined courage and
perseverance of the fish hawks from their neighbourhood, and forced to
hunt for himself, he retires more inland, in search of young pigs, of
which he destroys great numbers. In the lower parts of Virginia and
North Carolina, where the inhabitants raise vast herds of those
animals, complaints of this kind are very general against him. He also
destroys young lambs in the early part of spring; and will sometimes
attack old sickly sheep, aiming furiously at their eyes.
In corroboration of the remarks I have myself made on the manners of
the bald eagle, many accounts have reached me from various persons of
respectability, living on or near our sea coast. The substance of all
these I shall endeavour to incorporate with the present account.
Mr. John L. Gardiner, who resides on an island of three thousand
acres, about three miles from the eastern point of Long Island, from
which it is separated by Gardiner's Bay, and who has consequently many
opportunities of observing the habits of these birds, has favoured me
with a number of interesting particulars on this subject; for which I
beg leave thus publicly to return my grateful acknowledgment.
"The bald eagles," says this gentleman, "remain on this island during
the whole winter. They can be most easily discovered on evenings by
their loud snoring while asleep on high oak trees; and, when awake,
their hearing seems to be nearly as good as their sight. I think I
mentioned to you, that I had myself seen one flying with a lamb ten
days old, and which it dropped on the ground from about ten or twelve
feet high. The struggling of the lamb, more than its weight, prevented
its carrying it away. My running, hallooing, and being very near,
might prevent its completing its design. It had broke the back in the
act of seizing it; and I was under the necessity of killing it
outright to prevent its misery. The lamb's dam seemed astonished to
see its innocent offspring borne off in the air by a bird.
"I was lately told," continues Mr. Gardiner, "by a man of truth, that
he saw an eagle rob a hawk of its fish, and the hawk seemed so enraged
as to fly down at the eagle, while the eagle very deliberately, in the
air, threw himself partly over on his back, and, while he grasped with
one foot the fish, extended the other to threaten or seize the hawk. I
have known several hawks unite to attack the eagle; but never knew a
single one to do it. The eagle seems to regard the hawks as the hawks
do the kingbirds, only as teasing, troublesome fellows."
From the same intelligent and obliging friend, I lately received a
well preserved skin of the bald eagle, which, from its appearance, and
the note that accompanied it, seems to have belonged to a very
formidable individual. "It was shot," says Mr. Gardiner, "last winter,
on this island, and weighed thirteen pounds, measured three feet in
length, and seven from tip to tip of the expanded wings; was extremely
fierce looking; though wounded, would turn his back to no one;
fastened his claws into the head of a dog, and was with difficulty
disengaged. I have rode on horseback within five or six rods of one,
who, by his bold demeanour, raising his feathers, &c. seemed willing
to dispute the ground with its owner. The crop of the present was full
of mutton, from my part-blood Merinos; and his intestines contained
feathers, which he probably devoured with a duck, or winter gull, as I
observed an entire foot and leg of some water fowl. I had two killed
previous to this, which weighed ten pounds avoirdupois each."
(_To be concluded in our next._)
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Notes of a Reader.
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