THE EAGLE. 307 



various feathered tribes that pursue their busy avocations 

 below; the snow-white gulls, slowly winnowing the air; the 

 busy tringse, coursing along the sands; trains of ducks stream- 

 ing over the surface; silent and watchful cranes, intent and 

 wading; clamorous crows; and all the winged multitude that 

 subsist by the bounty of this vast liquid magazine of nature. 

 High over all these hovers one, whose action instantly arrests 

 all attention. By his wide curvature of wing, and sudden 

 suspension in the air, he knows him to be the fish-hawk, 

 settling over some devoted victim of the deep. His eye 

 kindles at 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 dis- 

 appears in the deep, making the surges foam around! At 

 this moment the looks of the eagle are all ardour ; and level- 

 ling his neck for flight, he sees the fish-hawk once more emerge, 

 struggling with his prey, and mounting into the air with 

 screams of exultation. This is the signal for the eagle, who, 

 launching in the air, instantly gives chase, and soon gains on 

 the fish-hawk; each exerts his utmost power to mount above 

 the other, displaying in these rencontres the most elegant 

 and sublime aerial evolutions. The unencumbered eagle 

 rapidly advances, and is just on the point of reaching 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 into the woods." 



The Vulture. The Vultures have been sometimes called the 

 Hysenas of the feathered world, and judged by their habits, 

 they certainly justify the term. As scavengers they serve 

 a useful purpose in Eastern lands and deserve the protec- 

 tion they are said to receive from the natives. The Griffin 



