NORTH-WESTERN PARTS OF NORTH AMERICA. 
dark-stained Fucus. I gave him for these 
and for ten pieces of wood, made of Spt- 
rea capitata, each tipped with a beaver's 
tooth, and used in playing one of their 
games,—one blanket, value 7s., and some 
beads, rings, and needles, as a present to 
the little girl who wrought the hats. When 
returning last summer from the .Grand 
Rapids, I saw one of these Silver-headed 
Eagles take a small sturgeon out of the 
water, and as he was soaring over my head, 
I lified my gun and brought him down. 
The claws of the bird were so firmly 
clenched through the cartilaginous sub- 
stance of the fish’s back, that he would not 
let go, till I introduced a needle into the 
vertebre of his neck. The sturgeon mea- 
sured fifteen inches long, and weighed 
four pounds. 
The Large Brown Eagle is less plenti- 
ful than most species of its tribe, and not 
so shy. Itis also less ferocious than the 
Silver-headed Eagle, of which it stands 
in great fear. I was able to kill but one, 
and an examination of its stomach, which 
was full of small birds, seemed to show 
that it does not live on fish. 
The Small Eagle appears to be rare, as 
I never saw more than one pair, of which 
I killed one. Its flight is very quick, and 
though far inferior in size and strength to 
the other Eagles of this country, it boldly 
pursues them all. I cannot say what is 
the nature of its food. The legs and feet 
are of a light and bright blue. 
The hunters inform me that the Calumet 
Eagle (Aquila Chrysetos, Richardson and 
Swainson) is found two degrees south 
of the Columbia, in the winter season, and 
Isaw two specimens which had been killed 
there. 
A species of Buzzard or Vulture (Sar- 
coramphos Californianus of Vigors), is 
the largest bird seen here, except the Wild 
Swan, I killed only one of these interest- 
ing birds, but the buck-shot which went 
through its head, spoiled the specimen for 
Preservation, which I exceedingly regret, 
as Tam sure the species is yet undescribed. 
| 1 have since fired at many of them with 
i ee | kind of smaller shot, but without 
99 
effect. Seldom more than one or two of 
these Buzzards are seen together; but 
when they can find the carcase of any dead 
animal, they gorge so gluttonously, that it 
is easy to knock them down with a stick. 
I shall shortly try to take them with a 
baited steel trap. The colour of this spe- 
cies is similar to the small Canadian Buz- 
zard which I sent home, the beak and legs 
bright yellow. Its wing-feathers are highly 
prized by the Canadian Voyageurs for 
making the stems of their tobacco-pipes. 
Of the Hawk tribe I have seen but four 
species, and was able to preserve only two 
of these. One is pure white, and about 
the size of a Sparrow-hawk, a very active 
bird, and in constant pursuit of all the 
other sorts, which invariably shun its so- 
ciety. 
The Magpie, so common with us, and 
abundant also in the upper part of the 
country at all seasons, is very rare near the 
coast ; there seems to be no specific differ- 
ence between it and the bird of Europe, 
except that this is larger, and the feathers 
in the tail of the male are of a brighter 
and more azure purple. The American 
Magpies have the same trick as our's of 
annoying horses which have any sore about 
them. I preserved a pair of them. 
The Wood Partridge is not a rare bird, 
although by no means so abundant as many 
of the tribe on the other side of the Con- 
tinent. These birds frequent dry gravelly 
soils on the outskirts of woods, among ha- 
zel-bushes and other brushwood ; but are 
so shy that the breaking of a twig is suffi- 
cient to raise them, and as they generally 
harbour in the low thicket, it is only by a 
chance shot on the wing that they can be 
secured. I preserved two pairs of this 
fine species, but had the misfortune to lose 
one of the males, which could not after- 
wards be replaced, by the depredations of 
a rascally rat, who mutilated it so much as 
to render the specimen unfit for sending 
home. Onthe Multnomak River there is 
a species of Partridge, very diminutive in 
size, not so large as an English Thrush, 
with a long azure crest, and head and nec 
of the same hue, the rest of the bird being 
