ZOOLOGY. 75 



crossing the level prairie above the upper canon of that stream. They were either flying over 

 the prairie or along the stream, or sitting in pairs on the abrupt bank of the river, feeding on 

 frogs, snakes, and mice. The range of the species extends north as far as the Columbia, and 

 perhaps beyond. 



BUTEO MONTANUS. 



Western Eed-Tailed Hawk. 



We found tbis bird on the upper Sacramento, Pit river, and in the Cascade mountains of 

 Oregon. I also saw specimens from Shoalwater bay, W. T., and San Jose, California, pro- 

 cured by Dr. Cooper ; so that it may be said to inhabit all portions of our Pacific possessions. 



BUTEO ELEGANS? 



Red-Breasted Buzzard. 



This hawk is common in those parts of northern California and eastern Oregon traversed by 

 our party. 



HALLETUS LEUCOCEPHALUS. 



The Bald Eagle. 



The bald eagle throughout the far west reigns monarch of the feathered tribes. It is not rare 

 in California, along the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers ; is very common at the Cascades of 

 the Columbia and at the Falls of the Willamette, Oregon, and still more abundant about the 

 chain of lakes which cover so large a surface in the Klamath basin. We found it in the Cascade 

 range, among the mountain lakes, and, indeed, in all places where fish, its favorite food, is 

 attainable. 



On the shores of upper Klamath lake, quite to my regret, a large number of these noble birds 

 were shot by our party. So long, century after century, parent and offspring, had they reigned 

 there in undisputed supremacy, with no enemy more formidable than the arrow-armed Indian, 

 of whose missiles they had learned the range, that they exhibited little of the shyness so charac- 

 teristic of the tribe to which they belong. On some point of rock, or dwarfed pine, projecting 

 from the wall of trap which, to the height of 1,000 feet, borders the eastern shore of the lake, 

 beyond bow shot, the bald eagles sat, and viewed our approach with calm indifference, per- 

 mitting themselves to be brought within easy range of the rifles, and, too many of them, falling 

 a sacrifice to man's passion for doing what he can, simply because he can. 



The favorite fishing places of the eagles are the ripples, or rapids, of the streams, where 

 fish, particularly salmon, lying or passing in shoal water, come within reach of their talons. 

 At the rapids below the Falls of the Willamette a number of bald eagles may always be seen 

 procuring their food. 



The quills of this bird make better pens than those of any other I have ever seen. 



PANDION CAROLINENSIS. 



The Fish Hawk. 



The fish hawk pursues its finny prey on all the streams and lakes of California and Oregon. 

 Along the Sacramento it is associated with a great number of aquatic birds, cormorants, gulls, 

 terns, &c, some of which seem strangely out of place so far inland, and after leaving all other 



