150 NOTES ON NEW ENGLAND BIRDS 



eagle's of the 22d ! Think of hearing, as you walk the 

 earth, as usual in leaden shoes, a fine, shrill scream from 

 time to time, which you would vainly endeavor to refer 

 to its true source if you had not watched the bird in its 

 upward flight. It comes from yonder black spot on the 

 bosom of a cloud. I should not have suspected that 

 sound to have issued from the bosom of a cloud if I 

 had not seen the bird. What motive can an eagle have 

 for screaming among the clouds, unobserved by ter- 

 restrial creatures ? We walk invested by sound, — the 

 cricket in the grass and the eagle in the clouds. And 

 so it circled over, and I strained my eyes to follow it, 

 though my ears heard it without effort. 



[See also under Hen-hawks, p. 146 ; Fish Hawk, 

 p. 158 ; Hawks, p. 166 ; Junco, p. 303 ; General and 

 Miscellaneous, pp. 418, 427 ; and for birds mistakenly 

 supposed to be eagles see under Eough-legged Hawk, 

 pp. 146-148, and Fish Hawk, p. 151.] 



SPARROW HAWK 



Sept. 24, 1851. A sparrow hawk, 1 hardly so big as 

 a nighthawk, flew over high above my head, — a pretty 

 little graceful fellow, too small and delicate to be ra- 

 pacious. 



FISH HAWK 



March 27, 1842. Cliffs. — Two little hawks have 

 just come out to play, like butterflies rising one above 



1 [Thoreau at this time had made but little acquaintance with the 

 hawks, and this bird was probably not very exactly identified as to 

 species.] 



