You ask for the story behind this picture?

Well, contrary to popular belief, this picture is not of a child being abducted by a bald eagle. To fully explain the nature of this image, it is necessary to provide a little background information.

During the early 20th century, the period where this picture was in fact taken, there was a recession called the mournfull decade. It's only vaguely remembered and mentioned, because the great depression, which happened started not much than a decade later, stole it's thunder, literally.

The mournfull decade was, however, very real indeed. And just as now and as with the great depression, the job market soared to a then all time low.

This of course affected the child delivering services singularly provided by the storks at the time as well. Not that the storks had no work at all. In fact child delivering services was at an all time high, because men and women took to the simple entertainment of the sexual act, in lack of having the luxury to spend money on things like watching a variety play or betting on cock fights.

No, their area of work would be thriving, had it not been for competition from other suffering areas of bird labour. The mascot service was of course no such exception. Demand for bald eagles posing in front of the stars and stripes became very low, because photographers, simply put, refused to pay the extra 30 cents to have an eagle pose in front of a camera.

The mournfull deace was desperate times for many bald eagles. Even the chicks had to gather their own food, because their parents had to work thrice as much for a quarter of the pay.

This was of no small importance to the bald eagles sense of pride as well. Up until then, they had thought of themselves as the prime symbol and the very heart of the United States of America.

The depression led many bald eagles to resort to find meaning in less prideful fields of work. Some found work as chickens egg hatchers, while others made theirs wages as bird messengers (and thus tapping into the pigeons area of work). Some even fled the country in search for better oppourtunities in Canada and Mexico.

This leads us to the origin of this picture. The bald eagle here, is simply trying to make ends meet by legitimately working as a child deliverer for this young fellows human parents.