288 WILD SCENES AND SONG BIKDS. 



times saw a new eagle on the wing, there may be some doubt 

 about the particular specimen shot by him at Henderson be- 

 ing the same bird. I shall first, although having previously 

 furnished a portion of these extracts in my first volume, give 

 his description of the discovery by him of the Washington 

 Eagle, feeling myself fully justified by the importance of the 

 subject, in quoting them entire, before I proceed to explain 

 my reasons for the seemingly paradoxical opinion given 

 here. 



Mr. Audubon says : 



" It was in the month of February, 1814, that I obtained 

 the first sight of this noble bird, and never shall I forget the 

 delight which it gave me. Not even Herschel, when he dis- 

 covered the planet which bears his name, could have ex- 

 perienced more rapturous feelings. We were on a trading 

 voyage, ascending the Upper Mississippi. The keen wintry 

 blasts whistled around us, and the cold from which I suffered 

 had, in a great degree, extinguished the deep interest which, 

 kt other seasons, this magnificent sight has been wont to 

 wake in me. I lay stretched beside our patroon. The safety 

 of the cargo was forgotten, and the only thing that called my 

 attention was the multitude of ducks of different species, ac- 

 companied by vast flocks of swans, which from time to time 

 passed us. My patroon, a Canadian, had been years en- 

 gaged in the fur trade. He was a man of much intelligence .; 

 and, perceiving that these birds had engaged my curiosity, 

 seemed anxious to find some new object to divert me. An 

 eagle flew over us. ' How fortunate !' he exclaimed, ' this 

 is what I could have wished. Look, sir, the Great Eagle, 

 and the only one I have seen since I left the lakes.' I was 

 instantly on my feet, and having observed it attentively, 

 concluded, as I lost it in the distance, that it was a species 

 quite new to me. My patroon assured me that such birds 

 were indeed rare ; that they sometimes followed the hunters, 

 to feed on the entrails of the animals which they had killed 

 when the lakes were frozen over ; but that when the lakes 



