HAWKS 163 



HAWKS (SPECIES UNNAMED) 



Sept. 25, 1851. In these cooler, windier, crystal days 

 the note of the jay sounds a little more native. Stand- 

 ing on the Cliffs, I see them flitting and screaming from 

 pine to pine beneath, displaying their gaudy blue pin- 

 ions. Hawks, too, I perceive, sailing about in the clear 

 air, looking white against the green pines, like the seeds 

 of the milkweed. There is almost always a pair of 

 hawks. Their shrill scream, that of the owls, and wolves 

 are all related. 



Oct. 9, 1851. The circling hawk steers himself 

 through the air like the skater, without a visible mo- 

 tion. 



Dec. 20, 1851. Saw a large hawk circling over a pine 

 wood below me, and screaming, apparently that he might 

 discover his prey by their flight. Travelling ever by 

 wider circles. What a symbol of the thoughts, now soar- 

 ing, now descending, taking larger and larger circles, 

 or smaller and smaller! It flies not directly whither it 

 is bound, but advances by circles, like a courtier of the 

 skies. No such noble progress ! How it comes round, as 

 with a wider sweep of thought ! But the majesty is in 

 the imagination of the beholder, for the bird is intent 

 on its prey. Circling and ever circling, you cannot 

 divine which way it will incline, till perchance it dives 

 down straight as an arrow to its mark. It rises higher 

 above where I stand, and I see with beautiful distinct- 

 ness its wings against the sky, — primaries and second- 

 aries, and the rich tracery of the outline of the latter (?), 

 its inner wings, or wing-linings, within the outer, — 



