FISH HAWK 151 



the other in endless alternation far below me. They 

 swoop from side to side in the broad basin of the tree- 

 tops, with wider and wider surges, as if swung by an 

 invisible pendulum. They stoop down on this side and 

 scale up on that. 



Suddenly I look up and see a new bird, probably an 

 eagle, quite above me, laboring with the wind not more 

 than forty rods off. It was the largest bird of the falcon 

 kind I ever saw. I was never so impressed by any flight. 

 She sailed the air, and fell back from time to time like 

 a ship on her beam ends, holding her talons up as if 

 ready for the arrows. I never allowed before for the 

 grotesque attitudes of our national bird.^ 



The eagle must have an educated eye. 



March 31, 1842. I cannot forget the majesty of that 

 bird at the Cliff. It was no sloop or smaller craft hove 

 in sight, but a ship of the line, worthy to struggle with 

 the elements. It was a great presence, as of the master 

 of river and forest. His eye would not have quailed 

 before the owner of the soil; none could challenge his 

 rights. And then his retreat, sailing so steadily away, 

 was a kind of advance. How is it that man always feels 

 like an interloper in nature, as if he had intruded on 

 the domains of bird and beast ? ^ 



April 14, 1852. A fish hawk is calmly sailing over 

 all, looking for his prey. The gulls are all gone now, 

 though the water is high, but I can see the motions of 



^ [See the next note.] 



^ [This bird appears to have been a fish hawk, not an eagle- At 

 least in his paper on the " Natural History of Massachusetts," included 

 in Excursions, Thorean uses the same terms in writing of the fish hawk.] 



