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him the thunderbolts of heaven. The Roman legions followed the representation of the Eagle over all the provinces of the three parts of the world then known, and even now this bird is the principal armorial bearing of several kingdoms of Europe. The loftiness of his flight merited him a place on the side of the most sublime of the scriptural writers, St. John the Evangelist.

Bird of the broad and sweeping wing,

Thy home is high in heaven,

Where wide the storms their banners fling,
And the tempest's clouds are driven.

Thy throne is on the mountain top,
Thy fields the boundless air;
And hoary peaks, that proudly prop
The skies, thy dwellings are.

The Golden Eagle is, in length, from the point of the beak to the end of the tail, about three feet nine inches; the breadth, when his wings are extended, is eight spans. The beak is horny, crooked, and very strong. The feathers of the neck are of a rusty colour, and the rest nearly black with lighter spots. Providence seems to have delighted in working the mechanism of the Eagle's eye, in order to give his sight the greatest perfection required for the purpose it was intended for: he has a double pair of eyelids, which move independently of each other, and, by covering his eye with the innermost of these, he is able to gaze steadfastly upon the sun without blinking. The feet are feathered down to the claws, which have a wonderful grasp; the leg is yellowish, and his four talons are crooked and strong.

Eagles are remarkable for their longevity, and their faculty of sustaining a long abstinence from food. Keylter relates that an Eagle died at Vienna after a confinement of one hundred and four years, which justifies the allusion in Psalm ciii. v. 5. and the etymology of the Greek name. The Eagle is found in Great

Britain and Ireland, in Germany, and nearly all parts of Europe. He is carnivorous, and, when unable to obtain the flesh of larger animals, he feeds on serpents and lizards. The story of the Eagle, brought to the ground after a severe conflict with a cat which it had seized and taken up into the air with its talons, is very remarkable; Mr. Barlow, who was an eye-witness of the fact, made a drawing of it, which he afterwards engraved. Two instances have occurred in Scotland of the Eagle having flown away with infants to its nest in both cases the theft was discovered, so that the children were not materially injured. This noble bird has been often tamed, but in this situation it still preserves an innate love of liberty. The nest of the Eagle is composed of strong sticks, covered with rushes, and generally built on the point of an inaccessible rock, whence it darts upon its prey with the rapidity of lightning. The period of incubation is said to be thirty days; and when the young are hatched, both the male and female exert all their industry to provide for their wants. In the county of Kerry, a peasant once formed the resolution of plundering an Eagle's nest, built upon a small island in the beautiful lake of Killarney. He accordingly swam to the island while the parents were away; and, after robbing the nest of its young, he was preparing to swim back, with the eaglets tied in a string; but while he was yet up to the chin in the water, the old eagles returned, and, missing their family, fell upon the invader with such fury, that, in spite of all his resistance, they dispatched him with their beaks and talons.

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THE OSPREY, OR SEA EAGLE.

UNDER the name Osprey have been confounded the Osprey properly so called, the Falco Ossifragus; and the Sea Eagle, Falco Haliaetos, commonly called the Bald Buzzard. The latter is about three feet long from the point of the beak to the end of the talons, and nine spans broad from tip to tip of the wings. The bill resembles that of the golden Eagle, and from the chin hang small hairy feathers, imitating a beard, whence he is called by some the bearded Eagle. The feathers of the whole body are party-coloured, being whitish, duskish, and rusty; his legs are almost wholly covered with dusky feathers, somewhat inclining to yellow. The whole of the body is covered, also, near the skin, with a kind of down, white and soft, like that

of the swan.

This bird builds his nest on some

romantic cliffs by the sea-shores, and feeds entirely upon fish.

High o'er the watery uproar silent seen
Sailing sedate in majesty serene,
Now 'midst the pillar'd spray sublimely lost,
And now emerging, down the rapids toss'd
Glides the Bald Eagle, gazing calm and slow
O'er all the horrors of the scene below:
Intent alone to sate himself with blood,
From the torn victims of the raging flood.

The Black Eagle is about twice as large as a raven. The parts about the beak and the eye are bare of feathers, and somewhat reddish; the head, neck, and breast, black; in the middle of the back, between the shoulders, he has a large white spot dashed with red; a black streak sweeps along the feathers, and is followed by a white one; the remaining part of the wing, to the tip, is of a dark ash colour. This bird has beautiful hazel eyes, full of animation; his legs are feathered down a little below the knees, the naked part being red; his talons are very long. He is found in France, Germany, Poland, and delights in Alpine mountains, where he makes the vales and woods resound with his incessant screamings when in search of prey.

The Abbé Spallanzani had an Eagle of this species so powerful as to be able to kill dogs that were much larger than itself. When a dog was placed before it, the bird would ruffle up the feathers in its head and neck, cast a dreadful look at its victim, take a short flight, and immediately light on his back. It held the head firmly with one foot, and thus secured the dog from biting, and with the other grasped one of his flanks, at the same time driving its talons into the body; and in this attitude it continued, till the dog expired with fruitless outcries and efforts.

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THIS bird considerably exceeds in size the largest eagle. Its expanded wings sometimes extend to the dimensions of eighteen feet. Its body, bill, and talons are proportionally large and strong: and its courage is equal to its strength. The throat is naked and of a red colour. The upper parts in some individuals (for they differ greatly in colour) are variegated with black, gray, and white; and the belly is scarlet. Round the neck it has a white ruff, much resembling a lady's tippet. The feathers on the back are generally quite black, and perfectly bright. These enormous animals, which are inhabitants of South America, make their

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