The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1862-07-12

TIE EAGLES SwooP.-An eagle will
only carry off such objects as he can seize
in sweeping by. He will not descend to
any spot of ground unless he can leave it
again describing the same bold curve with
which he came. He will not risk being
hemmed in within narrow limits. An
open field is indispensable to him for his
tactics. The object must be freely ex
posed. or he will hardly venture to try
to make it his own. As swallow rushes
down in curve to catch the insects hov.
ering over the pond, and upward again on
high, in his flight describing an elIpse, so
does the eagle, and thus only, sweep down
to seize a lamb or other animal. II must
be swept off the ground in full flight /; it
must be caught up at once without any
hindrance; there must be ample room
and verge enough" for him to continue his
easy flight, or the eagle will prefer not to
break his fast, and refrain from attempting
that by which he may come to grief
Protection is thus afforded many a crea-
ture that would otherwise never be safe
from so formidable an enemy. A small
bush ia sufficient guard against his attack;
for he always takes heed not to approach
places where he may get his talons entan-
gled, and be held fast, or not have suffi-
cient space for the movement Of his
wings. But for this fear of getting into
difficulty, he would feast oftener and fast
more rarely than he does.
1t light seem that, with his keencss of
vision and speedy locomotion, he need not
long be in want of n meal that in rang
ing over an entire principalty or a duke
dom, he surely would be able to find some
game or other. And he doubtless does
see enough that would answer his purpose
well, but nothing c:Tactiy in the situation
that makes it advisable for him to attempt
to bear it off. There are lambs below in
the meadow, but they have instinctively
become aware of their impending danger,
and have crowded together in one dense
mass, with-th ewes outside or they
have all taken shelter beside slipping
bank, or beneath tree, or alongside of a
hedge. None Of these positions suit the
eagle. In the mountains the chamois do
the same, or they stand sideways, press
ing close against the rock here the eagle
cannot get near them, for fear of injuring
his wings Sometimes, too, they will
take shelter around or under large frag-
ment of stone, determined to defend them
selves to the last; but into warfare of
this sort the eagle has no intention Of en-
tering. Among those stones and clefts
may lurk danger he cannot see and had
not calculated on so he leaves them, how.
ever unwillingly, to look elsewhere for
kid, in situation so exposed that, with
out stop or stay, he may clutch it as he
skins by within foot Of the gronnd.-4
And SO he often knows the pangs of hun.
ger. 1t is only when driven to extremity
that an eagle will descend upon the earth
and battle his prey. 1t is contrary to, his
instinct to do so. The air seems to be his
peculiar element, and earth an unconge-
nial spot, and, moreover, full of pitfalls;
it is. too, rendered doubly dangerous by
being the abode Of man OF him the eagIs
has, in common with all wild animals, an
insurmountable dread.-F1rsst Crsgtaifsa.