KAPACIOUS BIRDS. 69 



paints the kingly bird perched on some lofty emi- 

 nence, from whence he surveys the neighbouring 

 shore and ocean, and calmly watches the motions 

 of the various feathered tribes that pursue their 

 busy avocations below. The snow-white gulls, 

 slowly winnowing the air ; the busy tringoe cour- 

 sing along the sands ; trains of ducks skimming 

 the surface; silent and watchful cranes, intent 

 and wading ; and all the other winged multitudes 

 that subsist on the stores of this vast liquid maga- 

 zine of nature. 



" High over all these hovers one whose action 

 instantly arrests all his- 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 waters. His eye 

 kindles at the sight, and balancing himself with 

 half-opened wings on his branch, he watches the 

 result. Down, rapid as an arrow from heaven, 

 rushes the osprey, the roar of his wings reaching 

 the ear as he disappears in the deep, making the 

 surges foam around. Presently he emerges, strug- 

 gling with his prey, and mounting upward. In- 

 stantly the eagle gives chase, and soon gains on 

 the fish-hawk, each exerting himself to mount 

 above the other, displaying in the effort the most 

 beautiful aerial evolutions. The unencumbered 

 eagle rapidly advances, and is just on the point of 



