Cassell's book of birds; vol. 2Brehm, Alfred Edmund
Science
Cassell's book of birds; vol. 2
Brehm, Alfred Edmund
Birds
In comparison with the flight of the True Eagle, the movements of the
Haliaëtos in the air are slow and heavy; upon the ground, however, it
moves with great facility, and can dive to a certain depth. In the
development of its senses it is not inferior to its more noble relatives,
but, unlike them, combines so much cruelty and rapacity with its courage
as to deprive its disposition of that majesty popularly attributed to the
King of Birds. The breeding season commences about March, and though each
male has but one mate during its entire life, many and frequent are the
battles that arise about the possession of these often very hardly-earned
partners. Count Wodzicki gives an interesting account of the pertinacity
and fury with which these disputes are sometimes carried on. Two male
Eagles, he tells us, that came under his own observation, fought almost
incessantly, falling upon each other with beak and claws, and rolling
upon the ground until their feathers flew in all directions and blood
flowed. During these encounters the female sat apart, and rewarded the
victor by her caresses, with the utmost indifference as to which of the
two should obtain her for his mate. After a fortnight spent in constant
battles, the strongest bird remained for the time in possession of the
field, but no sooner did the pair leave their eyrie, after rearing their
young family, than the disappointed rival at once renewed his attacks
with so much ferocity as to kill his adversary, after a short but severe
struggle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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