292 WILD SCENES AND SONG-BIRDS. 



seldom possessed. He was brave, so is the eagle ; like it, too, 

 he was the terror of his foes ; and his fame, extending from 

 pole to pole, resembles the majestic soaring of the mightiest 

 of the feathered tribe If America has reason to be proud 

 of her Washington, so has she to be proud of her great 

 eagle. 



" In the month of January following, I saw a pair of these 

 eagles flying over the falls of the Ohio, one in pursuit of the 

 other. The next day I saw them again. The female had 

 relaxed her severity, and laid aside her coyness, and to a 

 favorite tree they continually resorted. I pursued them un- 

 successfully for several days, when they forsook the place. 



" The flight of this bird is very different from that of the 

 "White-headed Eagle. The former encircles a greater space 

 whilst sailing, keeps nearer to the land and the surface of the 

 water, and when about to dive for fish, falls in a spiral man- 

 ner, as if with the intention of checking any retreating move- 

 ment which its prey might attempt, darting upon it only 

 when a few "yards distant. The Fish-Hawk often does the 

 same. When rising with a fish, the Bird of Washington flies 

 to a considerable distance, forming, in its line of course, a 

 very acute angle with the surface line of the water. My last 

 opportunity of seeing this bird, was on the loth of Novem- 

 ber, 1821, a few miles above the mouth of the Ohio, when 

 two passed over our boat, moving down the river with a 

 gentle motion. In a letter from a kind relative, Mr. W. 

 Bakewell, dated " Falls of the Ohio, July, 1819," and con- 

 taining particulars relative to the swallow-tailed hawk (Falco 

 furcatus), that gentleman says : ' Yesterday, for the first time, 

 I had an opportunity of viewing one of these magnificent 

 birds, which you call the Sea Eagle, as it passed low over 

 me, whilst fishing. I shall be really glad when I can again 

 have the pleasure of seeing your drawing of it.' " 



I can mention but one instance in my life and it has been 

 no inactive one in which I have seen what I knew to be 

 this or a similar new species. Nearly fifteen years, ago when 



