the second day this dusky monarch was seen flying about above them.
Presently he began to hover over them, after the manner of a hawk
watching for mice. He then with extended legs let himself slowly down
upon them, actually grappling the backs of the young cattle, and
frightening the creatures so that they rushed about the field in great
consternation; and finally, as he grew bolder and more frequent in his
descents, the whole herd broke over the fence and came tearing down to
the house "like mad." It did not seem to be an assault with intent to
kill, but was perhaps a stratagem resorted to in order to separate the
herd and expose the lambs, which hugged the cattle very closely. When
he occasionally alighted upon the oaks that stood near, the branch
could be seen to sway and bend beneath him. Finally, as a rifleman
started out in pursuit of him, he launched into the air, set his
wings, and sailed away southward. A few years afterward, in January,
another eagle passed through the same locality, alighting in a field
near some dead animal, but tarried briefly.

So much by way of identification. The golden eagle is common to the
northern parts of both hemispheres, and places its eyrie on high
precipitous rocks. A pair built on an inaccessible shelf of rock along
the Hudson for eight successive years. A squad of Revolutionary
soldiers, also, as related by Audubon, found a nest along this river,
and had an adventure with the bird that came near costing one of their
number his life. His comrades let him down by a rope to secure the
eggs or young, when he was attacked by the female eagle with such fury
that he was obliged to defend himself with his knife. In doing so, by
a misstroke, he nearly severed the rope that held him, and was drawn
up by a single strand from his perilous position.

The bald eagle, also builds on high rocks, according to Audubon,
though Wilson describes the nest of one which he saw near Great Egg
Harbor, in the top of a large yellow pine. It was a vast pile of
sticks, sods, sedge, grass, reeds, etc., five or six feet high by four
broad, and with little or no concavity.

It had been used for many years, and he was told that the eagles made
it a sort of home or lodging-place in all seasons.

The eagle in all cases uses one nest, with more or less repair, for
several years. Many of our common birds do the same. The birds may be
divided, with respect to this and kindred points, into five general
classe