116 Bird of Wnshingtmi, 



wished. Look, Sir ! the great eagle, and the only one I have 

 seen since I left the lakes." I was instantly on my feet, 

 and, having observed it attentively, concluded, as I lost it in 

 the distance, that it was a species quite new to me. My 

 patroon assured me that such birds were indeed rare; that 

 they sometimes followed the hunters, to feed on the entrails of 

 the animals they had killed, when the lakes were closed by 

 the ice, but, when open, they would dive in the daytime after 

 fish, and snatch them up in the manner of the fishing-hawk; 

 that they roosted generally on the shelves of the rocks, where 

 they built their nests, of which he had discovered several by 

 the quantity of white exuviae scattered below. His account will 

 be found to accord with the observations which I had after- 

 wards an opportunity^ of making myself. Being convinced 

 that the bird was unknown to naturalists, I felt particularly 

 anxious to learn its habits, and in what particulars it differed 

 from the rest of its genus. Mr. Wilson had confounded it 

 with the bald or white-headed eagle, one of the young of 

 which he has given the figure of, to represent it. But I am 

 strongly inclined to believe that he never saw this bird ; for it 

 must be acknowledged that he was a very close and accurate 

 observer, and, had he met with it, could hardly have fallen 

 into so great an error, unless he was deceived by the near 

 resemblance which the young of these two species bear to 

 each other in plumage, although their difference in size is 

 very great : but, in the old birds, the likeness ceases to exist ; 

 both in habits and appearance they are totally dissimilar. 

 I watched a pair of these birds during a season, and fre- 

 quently saw them copulate, as well as the other kind, but on 

 no occasion did they mix. 



The sea eagle of America is full one fourth larger in size, 

 than any female specimen of the other kind I ever met with, 

 old or young. In the United States, from Massachusetts to 

 Louisiana on the seaboard, or as high as the mouth of the 

 Missouri to the north-west, (I speak only of the extent of 

 country I have visited, and where I have seen them,) these 

 birds are very rare. This will appear to all, when I say that 

 during my many long peregrinations more than eight or nine 

 I never found, and only one nest. The sea eagle of Euro- 

 pean naturalists, of which Mr. Bewick has given a description, 

 and also a figure, in a small wood-cut, is more like the species 

 m question, as to form and plumage, than any other. In 

 mentioning this gentleman, I cannot forbear expressing the 

 high estimation in which I hold his splendid productions ; I 

 have no hesitation in pronouncing him a most elegant and 

 faithful copier of nature, and the very best illustrator of Eng- 



