WASHINGTON SEA-EAGLE. 55 



of the Eagle. We had plainly seen her bearing it in the manner of the 

 Fish Hawk. 



This clay's sport being at an end, as we journeyed homewards, we agreed 

 to return the next morning, with the view of obtaining both the old and 

 young birds; but rainy and tempestuous weather setting in, it became neces- 

 sary to defer the expedition till the third day following, when, with guns 

 and men all in readiness, we reached the rock. Some posted themselves at 

 the foot, others upon it, but in vain. We passed the entire day, without 

 either seeing or hearing an Eagle, the sagacious birds, no doubt, having 

 anticipated an invasion, and removed their young to new quarters. 



I come at last to the day which I had so often and so ardently desired. 

 Two years had gone by since the discovery of the nest, in fruitless excur- 

 sions; but my wishes were no longer to remain ungratified. In returning 

 from the little village of Henderson, to the house of Doctor Rankin, about a 

 mile distant, I saw an Eagle rise from a small enclosure not a hundred yards 

 before me, where the Doctor had a few days before slaughtered some hogs, 

 and alight upon a low tree branching over the road. I prepared my double- 

 barrelled piece, which I constantly carry, and went slowly and cautiously 

 towards him. Quite fearlessly he awaited my approach, looking upon me 

 with undaunted eye. I fired and he fell. Before I reached him he was dead. 

 With what delight did I survey the magnificent bird! Had the finest salmon 

 ever pleased him as he did me? — Never. I ran and presented him to my 

 friend, with a pride which they alone can feel, who, like me, have devoted 

 themselves from their earliest childhood to such pursuits, and who have 

 derived from them their first pleasures. To others I must seem to "prattle 

 out of fashion." The Doctor, who was an experienced hunter, examined 

 the bird with much satisfaction, and frankly acknowledged he had never 

 before seen or heard of it. 



The name which I have chosen for this new species of Eagle, "The Bird 

 of Washington," may, by some, be considered as preposterous and unfit; but 

 as it is indisputably the noblest bird of its genus that has yet been discovered 

 in the United States, I trust I shall be allowed to honour it with the name 

 of one yet nobler, who was the saviour of his country, and whose name will 

 ever be dear to it. To those who may be curious to know my reasons, I 

 can only say, that, as the new world gave me birth and liberty, the great 

 man who ensured its independence is next to my heart. He had a nobility 

 of mind, and a generosity of soul, such as are seldom possessed. He was 

 brave, so is the Eagle; like it, too, he was the terror of his foes; and his 

 fame, extending from pole to pole, resembles the majestic soarings of the 

 mightiest of the feathered tribe. If America has reason to be proud of her 

 Washington, so has she to be proud of her great Eagle. 



