The King Of America

The United States of America has a king. He shows himself in every state in the Union and in the territory of Alaska, and is seldom seen outside this country except in the dominion of our friendly neighbor, Canada. He is king of the air, undisputed ruler of the sky, the American or white-headed eagle. As a proud monarch should have, he has regal features—a snowy head, an aquiline nose, a piercing eye. In fact, he bears a distinct resemblance to Uncle Sam himself. The eagle was officially placed on the Great Seal of the United States by act of Congress on June 20, 1782, while Uncle Sam, as an impersonation with familiar features, began to show his face in newspaper cartoons more than 30 years later. So it is true in this case that people grow to look like their pets!

Congress chose well when it picked this species for the national emblem, rejecting the golden eagle, which was originally proposed by the designer of the seal. This darker bird, although also found in the United States—rarely west of the Rockies—for centuries has been a heraldic symbol in such undemocratic states as Czarist Russia, the Austrian Empire, Napoleonic France, the Prussian Empire, the Roman Empire, and, indeed, of tyrannies and dictatorships running back to Assyria. Handsome it may be; as a harrier of young stock the golden eagle has a thousand marks against it for every one that can be charged to the American eagle, whose favorite diet is fish. Honest old Ben Franklin, who wanted to make the strutting and stupid turkey gobbler our national bird, charged the American eagle with being a coward, a bully and a verminous thief. He did not know, apparently, that this bird of our choice is more attached to its home, is more faithful to its mate, and spends more care in the education of its young t h a n almost any other in our skies.

Eagles mate for life. This is claimed for many birds, but usually falsely. The eagle pair do stick to each other, in breeding season and out, until death does them part. Only then will the bereaved one disappear from its accustomed haunts to roam the skies —now so often empty of eagles—till somewhere it finds a new mate and leads it home. Courtship begins earlier in the year (or later, if you prefer to call November that) than that of any other of our birds. And it lasts longer, continuing until June. In their eyrie, usually at the top of a very tall tree not far from water, the couple live in fierce and ardent devotion. There seems reason to think that the mating act is repeated, at dawn and sunset every day, until the eggs are laid and even after—as if the union were not for reproduction only.

By: davidbunch

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