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THE GOLDEN EAGLE.

THE EAGLE.

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clouded markings year after year, commencing, at first, immediately above the terminal bar, and gradually ascending and becoming closer as their age advances. White also predominates on the other parts of the plumage; the quills and secondaries have a much greater proportion at the base, and there is a similar distribution, in greater or less proportions, in the roots of the feathers over the whole body, which, as with the tail, is lost and obscured by the gradual occurrence of bars and cloudings. The irides of the young birds are dark, but, with age, grow paler, and become a clear orange-brown. The colours of the cere and legs, from greenish-yellow, assume a pure gamboge tint.

The eyrie of the golden eagle is placed on the face of some stupendous cliff situated inland; the nest is built on a projecting shelf, or on some stumped tree that grows from the rock, generally in a situation perfectly inaccessible without some artificial means, and often out of the reach of shot, either from below, or from the top of the precipice. It is composed of rude materials, as dead branches and roots of heather, in considerable quantity, entangled strongly together, but without any lining in the inside. The eggs are two in number, white, with pale brown or purplish blotches, most numerous and largest at the thicker end. During the season of incubation, the quantity of food that is procured and brought hither is scarcely credible; it is composed of nearly all the inhabitants, or their young, of those wild districts called forests, which, though indicating a wooded region, are often tracts where a tree is not seen for miles around. Hares, lambs, and the young of deer and roebucks, grouse, black game, ptarmigan, curlews, and plovers all contribute to the feast.

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Eagles hunt or survey the ground by soaring above, often to an immense height; the ascent is made by circles of beautiful appearance. When the prey is perceived, it is rushed upon by an instantaneous sweep; and, surprised before it can escape, or paralysed by terror, it is generally seized at The weight of the birds, and the great resistance presented to the air by their large bodies and expansive wings, prevent pursuit being often tried, though instances of it have been mentioned. Thus, Montague relates one, where a wounded grouse was seized before the guns could be re-loaded; and another, where a black cock was sprung and instantly pursued; "the eagle," he says, "making several pounces in our view, but without success."

Mr. Thompson states that an eagle was seen in pursuit of a hare. The poor animal took refuge under every bush that it could find, which, as often as she did, the eagle approached the bush so near as apparently to beat the top of it with its wings, and thereby forced the hare to leave her place of refuge. In this way she was eventually driven to open ground, which did not long avail, as the eagle soon came up with her, and bore her away.

A party being out hunting among the Belfast mountains, an eagle appeared above the hounds as they came to fault on the ascent to Devis, the highest of the chain. As they went on the scent again, and were at full cry, the eagle, for a short time, kept above them, but at length advanced, and carried off the hare, when at the distance of from three to four hundred paces before the hounds.

The golden eagle is easily kept in confinement, becomes tame, and even familiar with its keeper. Mr. Thompson thus writes:-"My friend, Richard Langtry, Esq., of Fortwilliam, near Belfast, has at present a bird of this species, which is extremely docile and tractable. It was taken last sunmer from a nest in Inverness-shire, and came into his possession about the end of September. This bird at once became attached to its owner, who, after having it about a month, ventured to give it liberty— a privilege which was not abused, as it came to the lure whenever called.

"It not only permits itself to be handled in any way, but seems to derive pleasure from the application of the hand to the legs and plumage. This eagle was hooded, after the manner of the hunting-hawks, for some time, but the practice was abandoned; and, although it may yet be requisite, if the bird be trained for the chase, hooding is otherwise unnecessary, as it remains quiet and contented for any length of time, and no matter how far it is carried on its master's arm.

"When this eagle is at large, my friend has only to hold out his arm towards it, which, as soon as perceived, even from a distance, it flies to and perches on. It is more partial to alighting on trees than the sea eagles, which are kept also, and, stationed on their tops, keeps its master in view, following him about the demesne, and, where plantations often intervene, flying from one to another in the direction he walks, indolently remaining as long as possible where it perches, consistently with keeping him in sight."

That this bird can revenge itself for an injury, is shown by the following fact:-A gentleman

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who lived, some years ago, in the south of Scotland, had a tame eagle, which the keeper, one day, for some petty fault, lashed with a horse-whip. About a week after, the man chanced to stoop within reach of its chain, when the enraged bird, recollecting the late injury, flew in his face with so much fury and violence, that he was terribly wounded, yet luckily driven so far back by the blow as to be out of all further danger. The screams of the eagle alarmed the family, who found the keeper lying at some distance in a bloody plight, and stunned alike by the fright and the fall. The eagle was still pacing about, screaming and threatening further evil. It was even dreaded whether, in so violent a rage, he might not break loose; which, providentially for them, he did, just as they withdrew, and escaped for ever." The attention of the parent bird to her eaglets has often been noticed. Sir Humphry Davy

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had an opportunity of witnessing the instructions given, and thus records the fact :-"I once saw a very interesting sight above one of the crags of Ben Nevis, as I was going in the pursuit of black game. Two parent eagles were teaching their offspring-two young birds-the manoeuvres of flight. They began by rising from the top of the mountain, in the eye of the sun. It was about mid-day, and bright for this climate. They at first made small circles, and the young birds imitated them. They paused on their wings, waiting till they had made their first flight, and then took a second and larger gyration, always rising towards the sun, and enlarging their circle of flight, so as to make a gradually ascending spiral. The young ones still slowly followed, apparently flying better as they mounted; and they continued this sublime exercise, always rising, till they became mere points in the air, and the young ones were lost, and afterwards their parents, to our aching sight."

VOL. III.

*

Aquila Regia.

6

THE WEDGE-TAILED EAGLE,*

THIS bird, which may be regarded as the type of a distinct form, agrees generally with the genuine eagles of the Old World, and more particularly in the lengthened wings and feathered legs, but the middle feathers of the tail exceed the outermost by about four inches; hence it has a wedge-shaped tail, from which its name is derived.

What the Golden Eagle is to the northern, the Wedge-Tailed Eagle is to the southern hemisphere. Universally spread over that portion of Australia, numerous in Van Diemen's Land, and on the larger islands of Bass's Straits, Mr. Gould-one of our most distinguished naturalists-thinks that it will, in all probability, be found to extend its range as far towards the tropics in the south as the golden eagle does in the north.

Mr. Gould killed one that measured six feet eight inches in the spread of its wings, and weighed nine pounds; but he believed he had seen much larger specimens. Its piercing eye detects and marks, as it wheels aloft, circling gracefully, its victims-generally consisting of the smaller kangaroos-when down it comes with full and unerring swoop. That these quadrupeds were more abundant in the olden time, appears from the account given by Captain Flinders, of Kangaroo Island. On one occasion, he says:-"I had with me a double-barrelled gun, fitted with a bayonet, and the gentlemen-my companions-had muskets. It would be difficult to guess how many kangaroos were seen; but I killed ten, and the rest of the party made up the number to thirty-one, taken on board in the course of the day-the least of them weighing sixty-nine, and the largest one hundred and twenty-five pounds"which the Captain, having some misgivings, subsequently describes as "butchery." The bustard, whose weight is twice that of the wedge-tailed eagle, is not safe from its attacks, and even the emeu is mentioned as its prey. It is, too, the scourge of the shepherds and stock-owners, where the kangaroo formerly abounded, and makes terrible havoc with the lambs. Not that carrion is despised; for Mr. Gould, during one of his journeys into the interior to the northward of Liverpool Plains, saw no less than thirty or forty assembled together around the carcase of a dead bullock; some, gorged to the full, perched upon the neighbouring trees, while the rest were still engaged in their banquet. He adds, that, for the sake of the refuse thrown away by the kangaroo hunters, it will often follow them for many miles, and even for days together.

The nests observed by the same sagacious naturalist, and placed in the most inaccessible trees, were very large, nearly flat, and built of sticks and boughs; but the eggs he could never procure. The one in the Zoological Gardens, however, laid an egg, according to Mr. Broderip, on the 27th of February, 1850. On the 28th it was placed under a common hen, which sat very close, but fruitlessly, and on the 21st of March the addled egg was removed. On the 4th of March she laid a second egg ; on the 29th, a third egg was produced and destroyed by the parents; and on the 4th of April another egg was laid, but no attempt was made to get it hatched.

"The imprisoned parents," adds Mr. Broderip, "made a poor apology for a nest of birch-broom and straw-the materials within their reach; but, instead of manifesting any intention to do the parental office, the birds wanted to destroy every one of the eggs; and the keeper found it necessary to look very sharp to prevent them from carrying their ovicidal propensities into effect.

"This reversal of the great law of Nature is not confined to birds. The sow and the rabbit, if disturbed at the critical moment, will not unfrequently devour their offspring-as those know, to their cost, whose impatience has brought their prying eyes to look into the mystery. We forget that, in their natural state, the first care of all vertebrated animals is to hide their eggs or young. The same may be said of insects, crustaceous, and even of molluscous animals. In proportion as the organisation is developed, the sensitiveness to the violation of this principle increases. The quadruped, in a state of morbid irritation, devours its young; the bird forsakes its nest, or destroys its eggs."

A wedge-tailed eagle, captured by Captain Waterhouse, in an excursion to Broken Bay, in New South Wales, gave proof of its strength by forcing its talons through a man's boot, while lying at the bottom of a boat with its legs tied together. During the ten days it was a captive, it refused to be fed

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