“Is it not true, then?” asked Mary.
“I do not say that it is absolutely untrue,” said Uncle Thomas; “because the person who relates it states that it was confirmed to him by various witnesses, in different places; but I think it is very unlikely, to say the least of it.
“However much we may differ as to the sagacity of the Eagle,” continued Uncle Thomas, “there can be but one opinion as to its affection for its young, and the valour with which it defends them against all assailants. Ebel, in his work on Switzerland, relates a story of a chasseur, or hunter of that country, which illustrates this fact very strikingly. Having discovered a nest belonging to one of these terrible birds, and having killed the male, the hunter, by name Joseph Schoren, crept along the jut of a rock, his feet bare, the better to keep himself firm, in the hope of catching the young ones. He raised his arm, and had already his hand upon the nest, when the female, pouncing on him from above, struck her talons through his arm, and her beak into his loins. The hunter, whom the smallest movement would have precipitated to the bottom, lost not his presence of mind, but remained firm, rested his fowling piece, which fortunately he held in his left hand, against the rock, and with his foot directing it full on the Bird, touched the trigger, and she fell dead. He brought away the Eagles, but the wounds which he had received confined him for several months. M. Ebel adds, that these hunters are men of whom the savages of America might learn lessons of patience and courage in the midst of danger and privation. The greater part of them come to a tragical end. They disappear, and their disfigured remains, which are now and then found, alone intimate their fate.”
Uncle Thomas went on to say that he had not yet quite finished all his stories about the Eagle; but as the evening was now far advanced, it would be necessary to delay them till their next meeting.
CHAPTER II.
UNCLE THOMAS TELLS ABOUT THE OSPREY, OR SEA-EAGLE, AND ABOUT THE WHITE-HEADED, OR BALD EAGLE OF AMERICA.
“The Osprey, or Sea-Eagle, which I mentioned to you when I last had the pleasure of seeing you,” said Uncle Thomas to his young hearers on a subsequent evening, when they had once more gathered round his chair, “though not quite so large as the Golden Eagle, is yet a very powerful Bird, being in general upwards of two feet in length, its wings extending about five feet and a half. It seeks its prey by water only, and builds its nest in the crevices of rocks, on the banks of lakes and rivers.”
“How does it catch the fish?” asked Frank.
“It has, like most of the other Birds of the Eagle tribe,” said Uncle Thomas, “been endowed with remarkably keen power of vision, and as it sails over the waters it can, even at a considerable height in the air, see fish swimming near the surface, and, dropping down upon them with the swiftness of an arrow, it plunges into the water, and seldom emerges without securing them in its powerful talons.
“Though the species is a native of Britain,” continued Uncle Thomas, “it is in America where it is seen to most advantage, as its habits can be more easily watched from the vast extent of the broad waters by which some of the majestic rivers are distinguished. It has accordingly attracted the particular notice of two of the most eminent American naturalists. Here is Wilson’s account of its mode of fishing, and the manner in which it seizes its prey.”