The Portland daily press., 1896-11-14
THE EAGLES OF TENNESSEE.
The Natural Mountain Home For the
Bird of Freedom.

Bird of Freedom.
There He is Hatched in Great Numbers
and Sometimes Lives 16O Years-Mating
and the Treatment of the Young.
(From the Cincinnati Enquirer.)
There are many eagles in the Tennessee
who are exert catchers of the young
eaglsts, who reap rich rewards in return
for their perilous risks and adventures.
Eagles make their eyries amongathe clefts
and crass of the highest mountains OF
the State. They are found on the Stone
Mountain, the great Roane. 6, 296 feet
high; the Bald, $3.50 feet; the Great
Smoky Range 6,636 feet; the Bullhead.
6.612 feet; on the Unaka the Big Stone.
and others, none of them less than 8, 600
feet above the level Of the country at
their feet.
The American yacht Defender, which
defeated the English yacht Valkyrie III
in the famous international race last
year, carried as its mascots two young
eagles captured in the Ten nessee noun
talns. Privat owners Of yachts, captains
of big ocean liners and the steamboat
very partial to eaglets as pets, and the
eagls catchers find this class of men
among their best customers. There Is
q well-grounded superstition among
themsthat the boat or ship that carries
the king of birds for its mascot will
never 20 down. The superstitious belief
is like the superstitions Of the old
Romans, who, in choosing the great bird
as an emblem for their imperial standard
regarded it as the favorite messenger of
Jupiter, and that the bird held commun-
ion with heaven. Oriental people, too,
thought that the feathers of an eagle's
tail made their arrows invincible. The
Indian tribes among the mountains of
East Tennessee venerated the eagle as
their war bird, and valued it's feathers
for head dresses and to decorate THEN
pipes of peace. The eagle upon the
American silver dollar seems to ind icate
AN abiding faith in the bird as AN en-
blem.
Young eagles bring from $40 to $50,
occasionally 500. Eagles that are OF
some age and of great size (such are
rarely csptured, howevsr) bring AS high
as $500 and $500. Eagles which have to
be killed while trying to capture them
are valuable to taxidermists, who always
find an easy market for great stuffed
eagle. Their feathers, especially the wing
and tail feathers, are sold for good
prices.
The eagle builds it's nest upon the top
Of mighty tree growing far up on the
mountain among the myriad OF twining
vines, or in the thickest and almost in'
accessible growth of bushes Rud shrubs,
or on the summit of high rock. An
eagles nest is large one always, and II
strongly and comfortably built. Large
sticks and branch es are laid together,
nearly fat, and bound with twining
vines. The spacious inside Is covered
with hair and MOSES 10 minutely woven
together than no wind can enter. The
mother bird lays two eggs which are
CuTlosihiOs. AAo Aoh8 ohA S"PoAS NV -
10 point. The color of the egg is o
ground of brownish red, with many dots
and spots upon 1T. The egg itself il
proof of the wild and savage psrentage.
Az eagle lives from so to 100 years,
The young birds are driven forth by theil
savage parents to scratch for themselves
an soon as they are able to fly. No train
ing is given them by the eli bird. Tha
it is left to their wild instincts, which
hunger and necessity develop. There i.
no going "baok to the old home" for the
young eagle. The mother bird tears VI
very vestige of the nest where they have
thri ven since birth, and while they emf
plaintive shrteks the old bird darts al
them and pushes them off the crags o.
rocks, and to prevent falling they mus
take to their wings, and this is how they
learn to hy. 1t takes three yenrs for {
Young eagle to gain its full and complete
plumaae and strength.
Away up in the Lmonntains the eagl'
finds it as hard to gain subsistence a.
DO the grumblers of the plain. The pre-
cariousness of his existence and the wilt
manner in which food is gathered seem
10 giveIthe bird ferocity as 1t grows olde
They rangeEamong the mountains ant
valleys in pairs. their young never FL
lowing, but doing the best they can