FISH HAWK 159 



thize with the movements of the watery element and 

 the winds. I see two great fish hawks (^possibly bhie 

 herons) slowly beating northeast against the storm, by 

 what a curious tie circling ever near each other and in 

 the same direction, as if you might expect to find the 

 very motes in the air to be paired ; two long undulating 

 wings conveying a feathered body through the misty 

 atmosphere, and this inseparably associated with an- 

 other planet of the same species. I can just glimpse 

 their undulating lines. Damon and Pythias they must 

 be. The waves beneath, which are of kindred form, are 

 still more social, multitudinous, dvrjpiOfxov. Where is my 

 mate, beating against the storm with me? They fly 

 according to the valley of the river, northeast or south- 

 west. 



I start up snipes also at Clamshell Meadow. This 

 weather sets the migratory birds in motion and also 

 makes them bolder. 



April 25, 1858. P. M. — To Assabet. 



Approaching the Island, I hear the phe phe,phe phe., 

 phe phe, phe jjhe, phe, the sharp whistling note, of a 

 fish hawk, and, looking round, see him just afterward 

 launching away from one of the swamp white oaks 

 southwest of the Island. There is about half a second 

 between each note, and he utters them either while 

 perched or while flying. He shows a great proportion 

 of wing and some white on back. The wings are 

 much curved. He sails along some eighty feet above 

 the water's edge, looking for fish, and alights again 

 quite near. I see him an hour afterward about the 

 same spot. 



