356 A STIRRING PICTURE. 



arrests his attention. By his wide curvature of wing and sudden 

 suspension in the air, he knows him to be the Fish Hawk, settling 

 over some devoted victim of the deep. His eye kindles at the sight, 

 and, balancing 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 attention, the roar of his wings reaching the 

 ear as he 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 emerge struggling 

 with his prey, and mounting in the air with screams of exultation. 

 These are the signals for our hero, who, launching into the air, 

 instantly gives chase, and soon gains on the hawk; each exerts his 

 utmost to mount above the other, displaying in these rencounters 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 the fish ; the eagle, poising him- 

 self 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-gotten booty silently away to the woods." 



A similar picture, let me add, has been painted by the poet 

 Spenser, though he refers, of course, to the British Eagle : 



" Like to an eagle, in his kingly pride, 

 Soaring through his wide empire of the air 

 To weather his broad sails, by chance has spied 

 A goshawk, which hath seized for her share 

 Upon some fowl that should her feast prepare. 

 With dreadful force he flies at her again, 

 That with his voice which none endure or dare 

 Her from the quarry he away doth drive, 

 And from her griping pounce the greedy prey doth rive."' 



The Reptilia are represented in America by a very great number 

 of species, many being remarkable for their great size or the terrible 

 venom with which they are provided. The crocodiles of the American 

 continent form a distinct genus, sometimes designated Alligator, and 



