'^he Eagle, 201 



Hntil Audubon coolly loaded his rifle with a bullet, and 

 then like a serpent, on his belly, he had time to noiseless- 

 ly, and unobserved even by the keen eye of the bird of 

 Jove, to crawl within gun-shot. I must confess I was 

 excited. I could see the bird, standing erect, and with 

 earnest gaze looking toward his nest, his mate and his 

 young in the distant swamp. I had lost sight of Audubon ; 

 he was buried among the weeds in the undergrowth of 

 the intervening ground. Presently a sharp rifle report 

 broke upon the air, a puff of smoke rose at the very foot 

 of the tree, and the eagle at the same instant flapped his 

 broad wings, made an ineflectual struggle to bear himself 

 on the air, and then turning on his back commenced de- 

 scending ingloriously to the earth. I admired Audubon's 

 spirit, knowledge and pluck, but I must confess I felt sor- 

 ry for the poor bird. 



"In a few minutes Audubon appeared with the 

 wounded, dying monarch in his possession. He called out 

 attention to the wonderful expression of the eye, which at 

 one time blazed as if illuminated with fire, and then glaz- 

 ed as if in death. As the sun finally disappeared, the 

 eagle died. 



" Audubon was now all excitement, he called up a 

 dozen idle negroes, who had been attracted by the novelty 

 of the event they witnessed, and ordered them to make 

 a large fire, by the light of which, in a few hours, he 

 stuffed and set up the bird, with a grace and naturalness 

 that almost rivaled life. 



" The next morning, on examining his work, he said it 

 wanted one thing more to make it complete, and acting 

 upon the idea, he took a saw and with great peril to him- 

 self and a vast amount of labor, he ascended to the top 

 of the magnolia and sawed ofi" the limb, the butt of which 

 attracted your notice ; this secured, he put the eagle upon 

 it, and thus restored the exact resemblance presented 

 9* 



