The Bald Eagle: National Symbol, Rockstar… Dubious Moral Character?

By  Lia Purpura

...Ben Franklin didn’t think much of the eagle. (Bald, by the way, is from piebald—two-colored, the white head and tail against the dark body.) He wrote, in a well-known letter to his daughter:

For my own part, I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen as the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.

With all this injustice he is never in good case, but like those among men who live by sharping & robbing, he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides, he is a rank coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district...https://lithub.com/the-bald-eagle-national-symbol-rockstar-dubious-moral-character/