The American eagle is more often spoken of as the "bald eagle," a name which misleads many people since the bird is not "bald" at all. The top of its head is as thickly feathered as the heads of most birds. Probably some one thought that the white head and neck made the eagle appear bald, hence the name. The birds reach the third year before the head and tail begin to turn white.
December Twelfth
The little striped skunk, or hydrophobia skunk of the South, West, and Southwest, is about half the size of our common skunk. It frequently goes mad and attacks people with great fury. Cowboys and other persons compelled to sleep on the ground in the open have been bitten by it and have died of hydrophobia. It is the only North American animal that will deliberately attack a sleeping person.
Notes
December Thirteenth
"Till a comparatively recent date it was not certainly known that eels have eggs which develop outside of the body. Even now the breeding habits are scarcely known, but it is supposed that the spawning takes place late in the fall or during the winter, near the mouth of rivers, on muddy bottoms." (Bean.)
December Fourteenth
The so-called glass snake is truly speaking not a snake, but a legless lizard. It forms part of the food of the true snakes. Its body is very brittle, a light blow with a stick being sufficient to break it in two. Although it is true that another tail will grow (provided not more than a fourth of the body is missing), it is not true that the broken pieces will eventually unite, or that a head and body will grow on the tail piece.