When the young are old enough to fly the old eagles fly above them as if to show them how easily it is done. If the young do not try to fly when the old ones think it time, they are pushed out of the nest as if to kill them. But the young wings flutter so that the bird does not fall hard, and the old bird flies under her young one to prevent any harm.
The eye of this bird is so keen that it can see a small animal much farther than the animal can see the great bird. When out of sight in the sky the eagle can see a hare as it comes out of its hole. It comes down so fast that it sometimes catches the hare before it can get back to a safe place.
When the sky is clear the eagle flies very high, but on cloudy days he keeps nearer the ground. He likes to fly over waterfalls because fish are to be caught as they pass over the falls. At Niagara Falls eagles are often seen because animals are sometimes carried over the falls by the rushing water, and the birds can get them easily.
The eagle likes to face the sun and fly towards it as if he thought he could reach it. For a long time people wondered how he could face the sun so without being made blind. But we know now that he has a covering for his eyes that keeps them from all harm from the strong light. If you watch a chicken you may see it has two eyelids for each eye. So has the eagle. The eagle has a sort of eyebrow of feathers that may help protect his eyes from the strong light.
While the eagle is graceful in flying he is not at all so in walking. Few birds are so awkward on their feet. His great claws are made for catching his prey rather than for walking. He can tear things with them and use them in fighting, but he has not much use for them upon the ground.
When they cannot get the food that suits them best eagles will sometimes steal farm animals. Lambs, or even full-grown sheep are easily carried away. They have been known to attack children and carry them off. But they do not often do this, and they have been known to carry them a little way and then set them down again as if the load were too great or they did not wish to eat them.
A story is told of a man who lived a long time ago, and who had but one child, a little girl. He wished to adopt a poor little baby boy, but his wife did not wish to take care of the boy. He had the baby carried to the top of a tree in which was the nest of an eagle. The baby was placed in the nest so he could not fall, and the man and his wife walked under the tree. The child cried so that the lady heard him. She supposed it had been carried there by the bird. Great haste was made to get the baby down, and the lady was so pleased to think she had saved the child from being eaten by the birds that she kept the little one as her own son.
Eagles hunt in pairs. One flies about near the ground to scare the game from the bushes and trees, while the other keeps watch from above to swoop down on the first thing that comes in sight. While their young ones are in the nest the old birds are very active. They are fierce if anyone comes near the young.
Sometimes they show as much cunning in taking their prey as any of the cat family. In flying down to catch animals upon the ground they take care to fly so that their shadow will not frighten their prey. An eagle has been known to destroy an animal too large to be picked up by flying at the animal fiercely as it stood upon the edge of a steep place. The wings of the bird frightened the animal so as to drive it over the cliff to meet death upon the rocks below.
(Continued on [page 36].)