Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1897-09-26

its claws IN the bulldogs hide, rpse
rapidly. AS soon as It had cleared cQe
earth by forty feet 1t began soaring
round and round In magnificent ciT-
cles, its flight being something beau
tiful to behold. A shot from the gun
of an assistant keeper maue the eagle
drop Its prey, and away it scared mi>
= nus few feathers, while the dog
reached the ground unhurt.
A few days before a valuable dog
was missing from large kennel near
Cranstons-on-the-H Hudson, and within
few hours of this occurrence res
ident Of Yonkers reported that his wife
had desperate battle with an eagle
and had only succeeded in saving her
child after the most heroic efforts
Coincident with these reports come
numerous ones from the interior all
selling the same story, namely, the
presence of the American eagle and
the desperate attempts of the eagle to
sbtain living prey.
No other country except the United
States actually possesses the eagle. In
Great Britain and France they have
the falcon, and in South America they
nave the little eagle hawk. In India
and Africa they have the golden eagle,
which has never been noted for its vi
c1ousness, but the American eagle when
mature is one Of the most ferocious
animals in existence, and certainly the
most formidable of the winged tribe
The natural food of the eagle is the
lamb, and for century past there are
records Of frequent stealings of ewes
along the coast line in Canada and the
United States. Fawns have also disap-
peared in the Northern Rockies, and
geese and poultry have been carried
away within sight of their owners,
but people who live in the mountain
GUS regions rather expect these things,
and as the eagle has been so long
resident Of Niagara Falls his occasional
thefts have been pardoned. But when
he comes to stealing his prey from the
whole of the United States, swooping
down upon any moving object that
may attract his attention, it becomes
a different matter and one which may
revolutionize popular favor as far as
the eagle is concerned.
An eagle that was shot in New York
City few weeks ago was less than
three feet long and had spread Of
only six feet. 1t was brown, with
white tail and yellow head, thus giving
1T the appearance of the typical bald
headed eagle. 1t was a. young one.
showing that others must exist near
by. The eagles that were observed
along the Hudson, and at different
points from which the reports have
come, answered this same description,
showing that it must be the same fam
lily that has descended upon the coun-
try that has so honored it as to make
1t is national bird.
The United States is not the only
country that has taken the eagle for
It's emblem. Napoleon first took him
for his standard, an eagle with f1uted
wings Russia has upon it's coins Il
two-headed eagle, and Austria also has
the two-headed eagle. Russia, Aus
tria, Germany and Poland all have ma
tlonal societies with the eagle upon
their flag, and the old Romans never
went to battle without bearing the ma
Jestic bird with them perched high
over their colors. In the civil war one
of the armies had a mascot. an old
eagle that had fought" in twenty en-
gagements and came out of all alive
and screeching.
After the war he was carefully cared
for and now stands stuffed in a. mu-
scum in Washington. But, notwithd-
standing these noble facts, the Amer
lean eagle has got to behave itself. It
cannot take the fish out of our lakes
nor the birds from our country places.
1t cannot deprive us of poultry nor
can 1t rob kennels. It is not an nm
usual thing for the United States TO
offer rewards for the determination of
wild animals, and it is a very FREQUENT
thing for the individual States to do 50.
Many Of them now have standing Of
fers for the skin or head of panthers.
bears, buffaleos wolves, jackals and
tigers. 1t would take only a few DAYS
to put price upon the head of the