_White-headed_ or _Bald Eagle_.――This bird is abundant in all the latitudes of the United States, but shows a predilection for the warmer climates. He lives near the seacoast, where he usually selects some lofty pine or cypress for his eyry, which he builds of large sticks, sods, moss, reeds, pine tops and other coarse materials, arranged in a sort of level bed. This breeding place is never deserted as long us the tree lasts. Fish constitutes the chief article of food of this bird, and he usually obtains it by cunning and rapine, seldom by the exercise of honest industry. His principal occupation is to rob the osprey of the fruits of his labor, and he has sometimes been known to attack the vulture, and oblige him to disgorge his carrion.[49]
Illustration: White-headed or Bald Eagle.
_Royal_ or _Golden Eagle_.――This bird is found in all the cold and temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. It is supposed to live for a century, and is about three years in gaining its complete growth and permanent plumage. The neighborhood of Hudson’s Bay is more frequented by this eagle than any part of the United States, but it is not uncommon in the great plains of the larger western rivers. ‘The lofty mountains of New Hampshire,’ says Mr. Nuttall, ‘afford suitable situations for the eyry of this eagle, over whose snow-clad summits he is seen majestically soaring in solitude and grandeur. A young bird from this region, which I have in a state of domestication, showed considerable docility. He had, however, been brought up from the nest, in which he was found in the month of August; he appeared even playful, turning his head about in a very antic manner, as if desirous to attract attention; still his glance was quick and fiery. When birds were given to him, he plumed them very clean before he began his meal, and picked the subject to a perfect skeleton.’
The _Ring-tailed Eagle_ is now found to be the young of this bird, as has been long supposed. Its tail feathers are highly valued by the aborigines as they serve for ornamenting their calumets.
_Owls._――One of the most common species of this bird in the United States is the _Little Screech Owl_, which is found throughout the country. It is noted for the melancholy wailing, which is heard in the evenings in autumn and the latter part of summer. On clear moonlight nights, they answer each other from the various parts of the fields or orchards, roost during the day in thick evergreens, and are rarely seen abroad during the sunshine. They construct their nests in the hollow of a tree, frequently in an orchard.