passenger
pigeon is equally hasty and insufficient, and the squabs often fall
to the ground and perish. The other extreme among our common birds
is furnished by the ferruginous thrush, which collects together a
mass of material that would fill a half-bushel measure; or by the
fish hawk, which adds to and repairs its nest year after year, till
the whole would make a cart-load.

One of the rarest of nests is that of the eagle, because the eagle
is one of the rarest of birds. Indeed, so seldom is the eagle seen
that its presence always seems accidental. It appears as if merely
pausing on the way, while bound for some distant unknown region. One
September, while a youth, I saw the ring-tailed eagle, the young of
the golden eagle, an immense, dusky bird, the sight of which filled
me with awe. It lingered about the hills for two days. Some young
cattle, a two-year-old colt, and half a dozen sheep were at pasture
on a high ridge that led up to the mountain, and in plain view of
the house. On 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 n