The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1897-07-02
TENNESSEE EAGLES.

hessee mountains, and there are noun
talneers who are expert catchers of the
young eaglets, who reap rich rewards
IN return for their perilous risks and
adventures. Eagles make their eyries
among the clefts and crags of the high
est 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
raege, 6,636 feet the Bullhead, G,6l2
feet on the Unaka, the Big Stone
and others, none of them less than
5000 feet above the level of the coun-
try at their leet.
Young eagles bring from $40 to $50,
occasionally 500. Eagles that are of
some age and of a great size (such are
rarely captured, however) bring as
high as $500 and $500. Eagles which
have to be killed while trying to cap
ture them are valuable to taxidermists.
who always find an easy market for a
great stuffed eagle. Their feathers,
are sold for good prices.
The eagle builds its 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 inaccessible growth of bushes
and shurbs, or on the summit ola high
rock. An eagles nest is large one
always, and is strongly and comporta-
bly, built. Large sticks and branches
are laid together, nearly fiat, and
bound with twining vines. The spa
cious inside is covered with hair and
mosses so minutely woven together
that no wind can enter. The mother
bird lays two eggs, which are curiosi-
ties. The long end tapers down to a
point. The color Of the egg is a ground
or brownish red, with many dots and
spots upon it. The egg itself is proof
of the wild and savage percentage.
An eagle lives from 80 to l6O years.
The young birds are driven forth by
their savage parents to scratch for
themselves as soon as they are able to
fly. No Trainings given them by the
old bird. That is left to their wild in
stincts, which hunger and necessity
develop. There is no going "back to
the old home" for the young eagle.
The mother bird tears up every ves-
tige of the nest where they have thriv-
en- since birth, and while they emit
plaintive shrieks the old bird darts at
them and pushes them off the crags or
rocks, and toprevent falling they must
take to their wings, and this is how
they learn to fly. 1t takes three years
for a young eagle to gain its full and
complete plumage and strength.
Away up in the mountains the eagle
finds it as hard to gain subsistence as
do the grumblers Of the plain. The
precariousness of it's existence and the
wild manner in which food is gathered
seem to give the bird ferocity as
it grows older. They range among
the mountains and valleys in pairs,
their young never following, but doing
the best they can. The stern, unso-
cial tyranny, beginning with the home
less and outcast eaglet, is continued in
later years with their mates.
If the male bird be the stronger, the
most Of the prey belongs to him, and
he allows the female to eat paultry
share between fierce thrusts of his
beak her. If the female is the stron-
ger (aud she generally is), the male
bird covers and winces under a fierce
blow from his unfeeling wife, no mat
ter how small the morsel he gets. But
when danger threatens, no human pair
can battle so fiercely for each other as
| can two eagles. The breeding season
| begins about March, and each male has
but one mate during the entire life. If
the female is killed or captured, the
surviving male becomes an eagle her.
init and fiercier than ever.
They are often seen near their nests
together, and when the sun is shining
take their majestic flights straight to-
ward the great ball Of fire until they
disappear from 81 ght. Sitting on the
mountain side, their vision is so keen
that they ca see, far down the valley,
a sheep or young goat, a big turkey or
rooster,a a small pig, rabbit. or large
bird, and almost in the twinkliny of an
eye they descend suddenly upon their
victim. One nightly grasp and a
twist of their talons and the victim is
dead, long before the eagle lays it
down for repast. An eagle can live
two and three days, and even fire days,
upon gorging meal. They prey up
on all sorts of large birds, fish, lambs,
kids and goats. Oftentimes, when a
large calf or goat is to be attacked and
carried off, four or six OF them will
unite and carry off the carcass, when
they will Immediately begin to fight it
out to see which of them is entitled to
the choicest bits, and it is truly sur
vival of the fittest in such combats as
these.
The path of duty lies in what is near.
Every man is a giant in the eyes of
Snna how