AVES— EAGLE.. 



443 



called forth my attention was the multitude of ducks, of different species, 

 accompanied by vast flocks of swans, which from time to time would pass 

 us. My patroon, a Canadian, had been engaged many years in the fur trade ; 

 he was a man of much intelligence, who, perceiving that birds had engaged 

 my curiosity, seemed only anxious to find some new object to divert me. 

 The sea eagle flew over us. ' How fortunate !' he exclaimed ; ' this is what 

 I could have wished. Look, Sir ! the great sea eagle, and the only one I 

 have seen since I left the lakes.' I was instantly on my feet, and, having 

 observed it attentively, concluded, as I lost it in the distance, that it was a 



species quite new tome. My patroon assured me that such birds were 

 indeed rare ; that they sometimes followed the hunters, to feed on the entrails 

 of animals they had killed, when the lakes were closed by the ice, but, when 

 open, they would dive in the daytime after fish, and snatch them up in the 

 manner of the fishing hawk ; that they roosted generally on the sheh^es of 

 the rocks, where they built their nests, of which he had discovered several 

 by the quantity of white exuviae scattered below. His account will be found 

 to accord with the observations which I had afterwards an opportunity of 

 making myself. Being convinced that the bird was unknoAvn to naturalists, 

 I felt particularly anxious to learn its habits, and ia what particulars it 



