Rama meets Jatayu
When Sita came close enough, Ravana revealed his true form and pulled her into his flying golden chariot - the Pushpaka Vimana. Sita's cry for help get lost in the vast Dandaka forest. Yet, all through the aerial journey, Sita kept crying for help. Along the way, she spotted Jatayu - the demigod eagle. Having met him earlier in their exile, Sita cried out to him for help.
"O Noble Jatayu, see how I am being ruthlessly carried off by the wicked King of the Titans, like a woman bereft of her protector. You will not be able to resist him, for this cruel and evil Ranger of the Night is powerful, arrogant and furnished 'with weapons. Nevertheless, O Bird, do you bear the tidings of mine abduction to Rama and Lakshmana and tell them all, omitting nothing.”
Jatayu, horrified, tried to reason with Ravana. Explaining to the demon king why abducting Sita would bring his downfall, Jatayu urged Ravana to return Sita to her hermitage. Ravana, drunk with ego and arrogance, got enraged with Jatayu's words and hurled a slew of arrows at the old bird. Jatayu though weak with age attacked Ravana back.
This is how the original text describes the fight between Jatayu and Ravana. "Buried beneath the arrows shot by Ravana, Jatayu broke through that cloud of arrows and with his sharp claws snapped that mighty bow; with a stroke of his wings he shattered Ravana’s blazing shield, that resembled fire, and brushed aside the flaming darts that encompassed him.
Then Jatayu, in that conflict, slew the swift-coursing mules with demons’ heads that drew Ravana's chariot. Then he demolished the chariot of Ravana. With a single movement of his wings, Jatayu struck down the canopy, like unto a full moon, with the chowries and the titans who wielded them."
However, Ravana ended the attack of Jatayu by severing his wings and took off with Sita.
Jatayu narrates the incident of Sita's abduction
Back at the hermitage, a distraught Rama along with Lakshmana started to scour the Dandaka forest for Sita. During that search, he met a dying Jatayu. The King of birds who had held his life only to convey to Rama the abduction of Sita, narrated how Ravana had made away with Sita. Explaining how he tried his best to rescue Sita, Jatayu explained to Rama how he destroyed Ravana's chariot and the powerful mules that drew it. However, when Rama quizzed Jatayu where could Sita be, the bird died before answering the question.
Image notes: At the bottom panel, Rama and Lakshmana are talking to the dying demi-god eagle, Jatayu. In the top panel, Jatayu is shown describing how he destroyed Ravana's chariot and the mules drawing it. On the picture are inscribed the words Chakra (wheels), Ghoda (horses), Ram, and Lakshmana.