118 Bird of Washington. 



k^pt up a growling threatening cry, to intimidate us from our 

 suspected design. This watchful solicitude I have ever found 

 peculiar to the female : must I be understood to speak only of 

 birds ? 



The young having hid themselves, we went and picked up 

 the fish which the mother had let fall ; it was a white perch, 

 weighing about 5\ lbs. ; the upper part of the head was 

 broken in, and the back torn by the talons of the eagle. We 

 had plainly seen her bearing it, in the manner of the fish-hawk. 



This day's sport being at an end, as we journeyed homewards 

 we agreed to return the next morning, being most anxious to 

 procure both the old and young birds ; but rainy and tem- 

 pestuous w^eather setting in, our expedition was obliged to be 

 postponed till the third day following, when, with guns and 

 men all in readiness, we reached the rock. Some posted 

 themselves at the foot, others upon it, but in vain. We 

 passed the entire day, without either seeing or hearing an 

 eagle : the sagacious birds, no doubt, having anticipated an 

 invasion, had removed their young to fresh quarters. 



I come at last to the day I had so often and so ardently 

 desired. Two years had gone by, since the discovery of the 

 nest, in fruitless excursions ; but my wishes were no longer to 

 remain ungratified. In returning from the little village of 

 Henderson to the house of Doctor R*****^ about a mile 

 distant, I saw one rise from a small enclosure not a hundred 

 yards before me, where the doctor had a few days before 

 slaughtered some hogs, and alight upon a low tree branching 

 over the road. I prepared my double-barrelled piece, 

 which I constantly carry, and went slowly and cautiously 

 towards him ; quite fearless he awaited my approach, looking 

 upon me with an undaunted eye. 1 fired and he fell; 

 before I reached him he was dead. With what delight 1 

 surveyed this magnificent bird ! Had the finest salmon ever 

 pleased him as he did me ? — Never. I ran and presented 

 him to my friend, with a pride which those can only feel, 

 who, like me, have devoted their earliest childhood to such 

 pursuits, and have derived from them their first of plea- 

 sures ; to others, I must seem " to prattle out of fashion." 

 The doctor, who was an experienced hunter, examined 

 the bird with much satisfaction, and frankly acknowledged 

 he had never before seen or heard of it. The name I chose 

 for this new species of eagle, " The Bird of Washington," 

 may, by some, be considered as preposterous and unfit ; 

 but, being indisputably the noblest of the genus known to 

 naturalists, I trust it will be allowed to retain it. To those, 

 however, who -may be curious to know my reasons, I can only 



