since they flew about in the
woods, and took a bath or plumed themselves."

"The judge ought to wear spectacles! May I cut him a pair out of paper?"
asked Dodo. "See how wise he looks," she said, as she put the
make-believe glasses on the Eagle's nose.

"Order!" called the Doctor, rapping on the table with his knuckles. "The
American Eagle makes the first speech, which I will translate to you."

The Eagle looked very fierce as he sat there. His head, neck, and tail
were white, but the rest of his body was dark brown. The upper part of
his great yellow beak was hooked; his yellow feet were bare and scaly;
and his four sharp claws, or talons as they are often called, were
black. He was nearly three feet tall, and if he had spread his powerful
wings he would have measured seven feet from tip to tip.

The Golden Eagle, who sat at the foot of the table, was about the same
size and an equally handsome bird. He held his golden-brown head proudly
erect, and his black wings folded tightly. He too had some white
feathers in the tail, though none on the head; his hooked beak was
black, and he wore dark leggings almost down to his powerful claws.

These two Eagles, though not exactly friends, are not enemies; for the
Bald-headed one ranges over all of North America, especially in open
places near the water, while his Golden brother keeps more to the
western parts, and loves the loneliness of cold northern mountains.

"We Birds of Prey," said the Eagle, "who bow to no one and even sleep
sitting erect--we, whose females are larger than the males for the
better protection of our nests, are accused of eating not only our
smaller brethren, but also four-footed animals which are of service to
man. I deny that we do this as a tribe, except when we are pressed for
food, and Heart of Nature says to us all, 'Take what ye need to eat!'

"Now, you are all in honor bound to speak the truth at this hearing, and
you shall be heard first, Brothers of the Darkness--you, with strange
voices and feathered eye-circles--you, who have three eyelids and whose
eggs are whiter even than moonlight.

"Brother Screech Owl, whose day is my night, tell us about yourself--how
and where you live."

[Illustration: Screech Owl.]

There were two Screech Owls perched side by side on one stump. They were
not ten inches long, and had feathery ear-tufts standing up like horns
an inch long. One Owl was mottled gray and black; the other was
rusty-red; and the t