ACCIPITRES. 



all the winged multitudes that subsist by the bounty 

 of this vast liquid magazine of nature. High over 

 all these hovers one, whose action instantly arrests 

 his whole attention. By his wide curvature of wing, 

 and sudden suspension in air, he knows him to be 

 the Fish-hawk, settling over some devoted victim of 

 the deep. His eye kindles at the sight, and balan- 

 cing himself with half-opened wings on the branch, 

 he watches the result. Down, rapid as an arrow 

 from heaven, descends the distant object of his atten- 

 tion, the roar of its wings reaching the ear as it 

 disappears in the deep, making the surges foam 

 around ! At this moment the eager looks of the Eagle 

 are all ardour ; and levelling his neck for flight, he sees 

 the Fish-hawk once more emerge, struggling with his 

 prey, and mounting in the air with screams of exulta- 

 tion. These are the signal for our hero, who, launch- 

 ing into the air, instantly gives chase, and soon gains 

 on the Fish-hawk ; each exerts his utmost to mount 

 above the other ; displaying in these rencontres the 

 most elegant and sublime aerial evolutions. The 

 unencumbered Eagle rapidly advances, and is just 

 on the point of reaching his opponent, when, with 

 a sudden scream, probably of despair and honest 

 execration, the latter drops his fish ; the Eagle, pois- 

 ing himself for a moment, as if to take a more certain 

 aim, descends like a whirlwind, snatches it in his 

 grasp ere it reaches the water, and bears his ill-got- 

 ten booty silently away to the woods."* 



We are compelled reluctantly to pass over with 



* Amer. Ornith. vol. i. p. 23. (Constable's edition.) 



