EAGLE (aquila), a genus of birds of prey, by some naturalists subdivided into several genera, constituting a group which contains the largest and most powerful of the fal conzda. From the most ancient times, the E. has been universally regarded as the emblem of might and courage; and, like the lion, it has been fancifully invested with other attributes of greatness, such as men thought to harmonize with these. Its extra ordinary powers of vision, the vast height to which it soars in the sky, the wild grand eur of the scenery amidst which it chiefly loves to make its abode, and perhaps also its longevity, have concurred to recommend it to poetic regard. It was associated with Jupiter in the Roman mythology; its figure on the standards of the Roman legions expressed and animated their confidence of victory.
The eagles have the beak not curved from the very base, like the true falcons, nor notched on the edge, neither are their wings so long in proportion to their size. Their wings are, however, very broad and expansive; their legs are very robust; their claws curved, sharp, and strong. In the most restricted use of the generic term, the true eagles, of which the golden E. may be taken as a type, have a rather short bill, curved from the cere, with a slight festoon on the edge of the upper mandible, the tarsi are short, and feathered down to the toes. This last character distinguishes them at once from the ernes (q.v.), often also called eagles. There are several species of true eagles well ascertained, although in this as in allied genera much confusion has arisen from the diversity of plumage at different ages.—The GOLDEN E. (A. chrystatos)—of whfth what is called the ring-tailed E. is the young—is about 3 ft. or 3 ft. and a half in length, and 8 ft. in spread of wing. The female is rather larger than the male; the color is dark brown, in some parts almost black, the head and back of the neck in mature birds covered with pointed feathers of a golden-red color; young birds have a considerable part of the tail white. The golden E. is the largest of the European eagles, and is found not only throughout Europe, preferring wild and mountainous situations, but through out almost the whole northern hemisphere: it is amongst the birds of India, of the n.
of Africa, and of North America; and the savage warrior of the Rocky mountains, " as well as the Highland chieftain, glories in his E. plume," Although occasionally seen in all parts of Britain, it builds its nest only in mountainous districts, carrying a few sticks and brambles to the inaccessible shelf of a rocky precipice, where the eggs are deposited almost on the bare rock. The golden E. is now rare even in the Highlands of Scotland. A great quantity of prey is necessary to support a pair of these birds and their two or three young ones; and not only hares, game of every kind, and lambs are carried to the eyrie, but larger animals are sometimes attacked, and almost every district where eagles build their nests has its stories of children carried off to feed the eaglets, and often of their almost miraculous preservation.—The next in size to the golden E. among the eagles of Europe is the imperial or Grecian E. (A. imperialis), but it is more common in Egypt than in Europe, and has never been seen in Britain.—The spotted E. (A. rurvia) has occurred in the s. of Ireland.—There is an Australian E. (A. fucosus).
Eagles were ranked among what were called, in the language of falconry, ignoble birds of prey, as incapable of being tamed and employed to assist in the sports of man. But either the golden E. or the imperial E. is used by the Tartars in the chase of ante lopes, wolves, foxes, hares, etc.
The white-tailed E. or cinereous E. of Britain is the common erne (q.v.). The white-headed E. or bald-headed E. of America—the chosen emblematic E. of the United States—is also an erne. What particular species was the emblematic E. of the ancients, is not more certain than what is the original emblematic Scotch thistle.—Others of the E. group of fatconida are known as marsh eagles, harpy eagles, eagle-hawks, ospreys, etc., some of which will be noticed in their places.