so you know old abe

As familiar to all
as the general appearance of the eagle is,
it may, nevertheless, be proper to insert here
a description of Old Abe before going farther,
written by a close observer while the bird was living:






His weight is ten and a half pounds.
 His breast is full and heavy,
trembling with ardent emotions.


His head is large, and well developed in front,
towering up in moral aspect,
 and flattened a little toward the neck, where it is the widest.
 His beak, measuring two and three-quarter inches,
bends in a semi-circle over the mandible,
having its edges cut sharp clear to the point,
where it is as hard as steel and of a beautiful flint color,
but changing gradually toward the base into a sparkling saffron.


The neck is short and thick,
 the body large and symmetrical;
the wings are long and tail rounded;
the legs a bright yellow, the tarsus three inches long,
 bare for the lower two-thirds, and covered with hard, tough scales;
the foot short and full; the toes free, tuberculous beneath ;
the four curved talons on each foot have sharp ends,
and look like grappling steels;
 the thighs are remarkably thick, strong and muscular,
covered with  long feathers pointing backwards;
the conformation of the wings is admirably adapted
 for the support of so large a bird, measuring,
from tip to tip, six feet and a half; length of one, two feet on the greater quills;
 the longest primaries- twenty inches and upwards
 of one inch in circumference where they enter the skin;
 the scapulars are very large and broad,
 spreading from the back to the wing to prevent the air from passing through .

The plumage is compact and imbricated;
the feathers on the breast, back and top of the wings
are a dark brown with a changeable gloss;
those on the head, neck and breast are narrow and pointed;
the other parts more rounded.


The general color of the plumage is brown
with a golden tinge; the head and greater part of the
neck and coverts are a fine snowy* white;
 the tail is also white, and spotted black on the upper feathers
for about half their length;
 the quills are brownish black with lighter shafts.

The eyes are clear and round,
encircled with yellow papillary linings,
fringed on their inside with thin, elastic, black bands or plates, like concentric rings;
 the iris is a brilliant straw color, and appears like the sky,
changing in luster just as his moods change;
the pupil is large, intensely black and piercing,
 contracting and expanding with microscopic and telescopic action
at every light and shade.


When looking backward,
his head appears in a position as natural as when looking forward.


 The expression of his eye is most fascinating:
when inspired with ambition
 it is a burst of sunlight
through a white cloud;
when angry, every feather in ruffled rage,
it is the lightning amidst the storm,
and at all times it burns and glitters like fire.




                              Thomas McEiean   (  McCann  )








OLD ABE  was an eagle given by an irish Wisconsin farmer
to the Wisconsin   8th  division       circa.  1865


I READ
 THIS PROSE DESCRIPTION
OF THE BIRD
AS POETRY












....