CHAPTER TWELVE.
THE WHITE-HEADED EAGLE.
Basil returned, bringing with him the great bird.

It was a female--as Lucien knew--and one of the largest, being over twelve pounds in weight, and measuring seven feet between the tips of the wings when expanded.
The bird of this species rarely exceeds eight pounds in weight, and is proportionately small in other respects.
The white-headed eagle (_Falco leucocephalus_), or "bald eagle," as he is generally called because his white head gives him somewhat of a bald appearance--has been adopted by the United States as the emblem of their Republic.

If his disposition be considered, he would be a more fit emblem for a band of robbers--for a more absolute robber and tyrant does not exist among the feathered races.

He robs the osprey of his fish, and the vulture of his carrion; in short, lords it over every creature weaker than himself.

Now this is not the character of the nation he represents--far from it.