448 AVES— EAGLE 



descend at will to the torrid or the arctic regions of the earth. He is there- 

 fore found at all seasons in the countries he inhabits, but prefers such places 

 as have been mentioned above, from the great partiality he has for fisn. 



In procuring these he displays, in a very singular manner, the genius and 

 energy of his character, which is fierce, contemplative, daring, and tyranni- 

 cal ; attributes not exerted but on particular occasions ; but when put forth, 

 overpowering all opposition. Elevated on the high dead limb of some 

 gigantic tree, that commands a wide view of the neighboring shore and 

 ocean, he seems calmly to contemplate the motions of the various feathered 

 tribes that pursue their busy avocations below ; the snow white gulls slowly 

 winnowing the air ; the busy tringae coursing along the sands; trains of 

 ducks streaming over the surface; silent and watchful cranes intent and 

 wading ; clamorous crows, and all the winged multitudes that subsist by 

 the bounty of this vast liquid magazine of nature. High over all these 

 hovers one. whose action instantly arrests all his attention. By his wide 

 curvature of wing, and sudden suspension in air, he knows him to be the 

 fish-hawk, settling over some devoted victim of the deep. His eye kindles 

 r.t the sight, and balancing himself with half opened wings, on the branch, 

 he watches the result. Down, rapid as an arrow from heaven, descends the 

 distant object of his attention, the roar of its wings reaching the ear as it 

 disappears in the deep, making the surges foam around ! At this moment 

 the eager looks of the eagle are all ardor, and levelling his neck for flight, 

 he sees the fish-hawk once more emerge, struggling with his prey, and 

 mounting in the air, with screams of exultation. These are the signals for 

 our hero, who, launching into the air, instantly gives chase, soon gains on 

 the fish-hawk, each exerts himself to the utmost to mount above the other, 

 displaying in these rencontres the most elegant and sublime evolutions. 

 The unencumbered eagle rapidly advances, and is just on the point of reach- 

 ing his opponent, when, with a sudden scream, probably of despair and 

 honest execration, the latter drops his fish; the eagle, poising himself for a 

 moment, as if to take a more certain aim, descends like a whirlwind, 

 snatches it in his grasp ere it reaches the water, and bears his ill-gotten 

 booty silently away to the woods. 



The predatory attacks and defensive manoeuvres of the eagle and the fish- 

 hawk, are matters of daily observation along the whole of our seaboard, 

 from Georgia to New England, and frequently excite great interest in the 

 spectators. Sympathy, however, on this as on most other occasions, gene- 

 rally sides with the honest and laborious sufferer, in opposition to the 

 attacks of power, injustice, and rapacity; qualities for which our hero is so 

 generally notorious, and which, in his superior man, are certainly detesta- 

 ble. As for the feelings of the poor fish, they seem altogether out of the 

 question. 



When driven, as he sometimes is, by the combined courage and perse- 

 verance of the fish-hawks, from their neighborhood, and forced to hunt foi 



