II 



A NEW WORLD 



Stories of America — Glorious News — Crossing the At- 

 lantic — The New Home — A Baptism in Nature — New 

 Birds — The Adventures of Watch — Scotch Correction — 

 Marauding Indians. 



OUR grammar-school reader, called, I 

 think, "Maccoulough's Course of 

 Reading," contained a few natural- 

 history sketches that excited me very much 

 and left a deep impression, especially a fine 

 description of the fish hawk and the bald eagle 

 by the Scotch ornithologist Wilson, who had 

 the good fortune to wander for years in the 

 American woods while the country was yet 

 mostly wild. I read his description over and 

 over again, till I got the vivid picture he drew 

 by heart, — the long-winged hawk circling 

 over the heaving waves, every motion watched 

 by the eagle perched on the top of a crag or 

 dead tree ; the fish hawk poising for a moment 

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