THE EAGLE. ]07 



falls down wholly exhausted ; or, like the deer in the Shiant 

 Islands, dashes itself to death by falling over some cliff; when 

 the Eagle mangles undisturbed the fruits of its victory.* 



There is a remarkably tine Eagle in North America, called 

 the great Sea Eagle, or Bird of Washington : it is very rare, 

 confining itself usually to lonely situations, occasionally, how- 

 ever, following the hunters, to feed on the entrails of the 

 animals they kill, when excluded by ice from its favourite 

 water-haunts, where in open weather it dives for fish. 



A naturalist, who was extremely anxious to meet with one, 

 had long laboured in vain, when one day, as he was engaged 

 in collecting cray-fish, near the Ohio, a large river in North 

 America, he chanced to observe on the rocks, which at that 

 place were nearly perpendicular, a quantity of white droppings, 

 which led him to conclude that Owls resorted thither ; but, 

 having been assured by a more experienced companion, that 

 they must have fallen from a nest of one of their long-looked- 

 for Birds of Washington, and that the old ones caught fish 

 on the river, he determined to watch for them, and in high 

 expectation seated himself, with his friend, about a hundred 

 yards from the foot of the rock. For two long hours he 

 waited with great impatience and curiosity, when the approach 

 of the old Eagles was announced by loud hissings, which was 

 soon perceived to be uttered by two young ones crawling from 

 the extremity of their hole to receive a fine fish presented by 

 the parent, as it held itself to the projecting rock, something 

 after the manner of a House Swallow, its tail spread out, and 

 its wings partly so. That they might not be observed, or 

 frighten the birds away, they crouched down, and kept perfect 

 silence, not whispering a single word. In a few minutes the 

 other parent joined its mate : it also had brought a fish, but 

 being not so bold, or more suspicious, before it ventured to 

 alight, it glanced its quick and piercing eye around, and in- 

 stantly catching sight of the spectators, dropped the prey, and 

 with a loud shriek communicated its alarm to the other, 

 which, loosening its hold, hovered over their heads, keeping 

 up a sort of growling threatening cry of intimidation. 

 * Annals of Philosophy, vol. i. 



