WASHINGTON EAGLE AND FISH-HAWK. . 291 



eagle, the sagacious birds, no doubt, having anticipated an 

 invasion, and removed their young to new quarters. 



" I come at last to the day which I had so often and so 

 ardently desired. Two years had gone by since the dis- 

 covery of the nest, in fruitless excursions ; but my wishes 

 were no longer to remain ungratified. In returning from 

 the little village of Henderson, to the house of Dr. Rankin, 

 about a mile distant, I saw an eagle rise from a small in- 

 closure, not a hundred yards before me, where the doctor 

 had, a few days before, slaughtered some hogs, and alight 

 upon a low tree branching over the road. I prepared my 

 double-barrelled piece, which I constantly carry, and went 

 slowly and cautiously toward him. Quite fearlessly he 

 awaited my approach, looking on me with undaunted eye. 

 I fired, and he fell. Before I reached him he was dead. 

 With what delight did I survey the magnificent bird ! Had 

 the finest salmon ever pleased him, as he did me ? Never. 

 I ran and presented him to my friend with a pride which 

 they alone feel who, like me, have devoted themselves from 

 their earliest childhood to such persuits, and who have de- 

 rived from them their first pleasures. To others, I must 

 seem to l prattle out of fashion.' The doctor, who was an 

 experienced hunter, examined the bird with much satisfac- 

 tion, and frankly acknowledged he had never before seen or 

 heard of it. 



" The name which I have chosen for this new species of 

 eagle the Bird of Washington may, by some, be con- 

 sidered as preposterous and unfit ; but as it is, indisputably, 

 the noblest bird of its genus that has yet been discovered 

 in the United States, I trust I shall be allowed to honor it 

 with the name of one yet nobler, who was the savior of his 

 country, and whose name will ever be dear to it. To those 

 who may be curious to know my reasons, I can only say 

 that, as the new world gave me birth and liberty, the great 

 man who insured its independence is next my heart. He 

 had a nobility of mind and a generosity of soul, such as are 



