EAGLE of Orinoca.
There crosses over from the Continent a kind of large
Bird, which may be ranked among the chiefest of the
Birds of Prey that are in the Caribbies : The first inhabitants of
Tabago call’d him the Eagle of Orinoca, because he is about the
bigness, and differs not much in figure from the Eagle, and that
this Bird, who is but a Passenger in that Island, is commonly seen
neer the great River of Orinoca, in the Southerly part of America:
All his feathers are of a light grey marked with black
spots, save that the extremities of his wings and tail are y el-
he hath a quick and piercing fight : his wings are yellow :
he hath a quick and fiercy fight : his wings are very long,
his flight steady and swift, considering the weight of his
body : he feeds on other Birds, on which he furiously fastens
his tallons, and having master’d them he tears them in pieces
and devours them: yet doth he shew so much generosity that
he never sets upon the weaker fort, and such as are not able to
defend themselves; but he engages only against the Arras, the
Parrots, and all those which as himself are armed with crooked
beaks, and sharp tallons : Nay it hath been observ’d, that he
falls not on his game while it is on the ground, or lodg’d in a
Tree, but stays till it hath taken its flight, that he may engage
it in the open air with equal advantage.
