FISH HAWK 161 



rods from him, and ten minutes later another. How 

 alert they are to detect these great birds of prey ! 

 They do not thus pursue ordinary hawks, and their 

 attendance alone might suggest to unskillful observers 

 the presence of a fish hawk or eagle. Some crows up 

 the Assabet evidently knew that he was sitting on that 

 elm far away. He sailed low almost directly over my 

 boat, fishing. His wings had not obviously that angular 

 form which I thought those of another had the other 

 day. 



April 7, 1859. Standing under the north side of the 

 hill, I hear the rather innocent phe phe, phe phe, phe 

 phe, phe' of a fish hawk (for it is not a scream, but a 

 rather soft and innocent note), and, looking up, see 

 one come sailing from over the hill. The body looks 

 quite short in proportion to the spread of the wings, 

 which are quite dark or blackish above. He evidently 

 has something in his talons. We soon after disturb 

 him again, and, at length, after circling around over 

 the hill and adjacent fields, he alights in plain sight on 

 one of the half-dead white oaks on the top of the hill, 

 where probably he sat before. As I look through my 

 glass, he is perched on a large dead limb and is evi- 

 dently standing on a fish (I had noticed something in 

 his talons as he flew), for he stands high and uneasily, 

 finding it hard to keep his balance in the wind. He is 

 disturbed by our neighborhood and does not proceed at 

 once to eat his meal. I see the tail of the fish hanging 

 over the end of the limb. Now and then he pecks at it. 

 I see the white on the crown of the hawk. It is a very 

 large black bird as seen against the sky. Soon he sails 



