Evening star. [volume], June 30, 1940, Page 14, Image 90

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
Arthur H. Fisher
THE PRIVATE LIFE OF
THE AMERICAN EAGLE
by Elmer Ransom
What our majestic and
powerful lord of the
air is really like
M.w is a jealous creature. By
/l his superior intellect and
■mA ▼ A cunning he has conquered
the wilderness and assumed domi
nance over all wild creatures; and
now, with the characteristic egotism
of the conqueror, he classifies the wild
animals and birds as “good" or “bad"
according to whether they help him
or compete with him. This is such a
common attitude that it is difficult to
eradicate.
The bald eagle, emblem of our
country, is a case in point. I admit
that the eagle is a predator and a
rather ruthless and terrible one. He is
a carrion eater, sometimes a robber.
To me his vaunted “scream” sounds
more like a squeal that ill-becomes
such a doughty bird. When 1 hrst
heard an eagle scream, 1 had the same
feeling that I had in France in 1918
when I saw a big American locomo
tive, and then heard its high soprano
French whistle.
The bald eagle derives his name
from his snow-white head, which he
acquires when he is several years old.
This, with his white tail and brownish
body, his size and his characteristic
flight, distinguishes him from any other
large bird of prey. Eagles in juvenile
plumage are often mistaken for the
osprey.
The eagle mates for life. In the
southern range, the nests are most
often placed in high pines, and are
six to eight feet in height and as wide
across the top. Whereas two eggs are
common, one or three are rare.
Fisheater— By Preference
The eagle is by preference a fish
eater. He will catch his own fish when
he has to, but prefers to take carrion
fish or rob an osprey (fish hawk).
Lacking fish he harries almost any
other small mammal or bird. He has
been known to prey upon young deer
and sheep, and the imagination of man
has gone so far as to say that he has
attacked young children. 1 doubt the
last.
The most dramatic spectacle in
nature is to see an osprey, holding a
heavy mullet headfirst in his talons,
attacked by a bald eagle. The eagle
swoops from above, envelops the un
fortunate bird in his great lieating
wings and tries to frighten him into
dropping the fish. Failing that, the
eagle will loop over on his back under
the osprey and strike at the bird with
his talons. Usually the belabored os
prey finally drops the fish. The eagle
will often catch it before it strikes the
surface of the water.
Man has regarded the eagle as a
competitor, given him a bad name
and in some places has marked him
for extermination. Whenever any bird
or animal passes, our woods lose some
part of their glamor and their color.
The soaring of an eagle, his utter mas
tery of his element, his marvelous eye
sight the is said to be able to spot a
small fish more than a mile away),
the freedom of movement that his
Ihght suggests, are things for the
nature lover to cherish.
He is as much a part of nature's
balance as a man. and he has the same
right to use his weapons as a man has.
To destroy him ruthlessly because it
is in man's power to do so is a stupid,
terrible thing.
I have no patience with a bounty
on the American eagle, and d man in
the pursuit of his pleasure and greed
would be a bit more intelligent in not
upsetting the balance of nature, he
wouldn’t need to worry about the wild
life that is the eagle’s natural prey.
THE WORLD BEGINS
Continued from page three
We knew what it meant, and 1
thought ol all the people outside, now
dead or about to die. 1 felt sort of
sorry for them, hut there wasn't any
body that 1 really knew or cared
about. JX342 — Red — was here,
and She. There really wasn't anybody
else in my life. All the others were
just numbers, people you saw working
beside you, or sleeping in the same
barracks; that was all.
1 guess it was different with the
Leadersmen, though. They lived dif
ferently, had a chance to get to know
people well enough to have feelings
about them. Suddenly, the Head
Leadersman snapped out his ray gun
and shot the Leader dead; and he be
gan shouting like a crazy man; "You
did it! You let them all die! Alec,
Joe, and my little Minn. You killed
her! You wouldn't let me save her!”
It was the first time I had ever
realized that the Leadersmen still
used names instead of numbers. That
was what 1 thought about, as the
Leadersman darned around, shout
ing at the corpse of the Leader. Then
I thought; “The Leader is dead. Now
there isn’t any Leader.” But then I
knew that was crazy. There had to be
a Leader. There always had been.
Now that the Leader was dead, that
made the Leadersman the Leader. 1
guess the others figured it out the
same way, because we all stood there,
just waiting.
The Leadersman turned and looked
at us. Tears were rolling down his face.
"Fools'” he yelled. "You poor fools!"
And before we knew what to expect,
he turned the ray gun on himself,
and fell in a lump.
We just looked at each other, and
began to fall out of formation. Some
of the men began to mutter, and a
female fainted. Then Red shouted
right out, sort of exultantly: "There
isn't any Leader!” And an old man
said quietly, “Ever hear of God?”
We all laughed. We knew that he
must be one of those fanatics who had
kept up a secret belief in God all these
years. Of course we had all heard of
God, but we knew there wasn't any.
But that night. She and I her
number turned out to be Y1.795, but
I call her “Glory" now —were talking
it over after the meeting at which we
decided not to have a Leader any
more. And Glory said, “You will be
my Leader. Then she said. “If there
isn't any God, I think I'll have to
make one up — I'm so happy!” That
was just after our lips came together.
I couldn't say anything, myself. I was
shaking all over.
So when it came time for drawing
lots for apartments in the Palace.
Glory and 1 drew together. When we
got the vault doors open, and went
out to choose our plots of land — the
food pills wouldn't last long, of course,
and we didn't much care because some
of the older men said they could show
us how to make food grow out of the
earth — Glory came with me to
choose our plot.
But she wouldn’t start housekeep
ing with me until we got the old man
who remembered God to say some
lines over us.
So I guess when the baby comes
everything will be all right.
Th» End
r
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