56 WASHINGTON SEA-EAGLE. 



In the month of January following, I saw a pair of these Eagles flying 

 over the Falls of the Ohio, one in pursuit of the other. The next day I saw 

 them again. The female had relaxed her severity, had laid aside her coyness, 

 and to a favourite tree they continually resorted. I pursued them unsuccess- 

 fully for several days, when they forsook the place. 



The flight of this bird is very different from that of the White-headed 

 Eagle. The former encircles a greater space, whilst sailing keeps nearer to 

 the land and the surface of the water, and when about to dive for fish falls in 

 a spiral manner, as if with the intention of checking any retreating movement 

 which its prey might attempt, darting upon it only when a few yards distant. 

 The Fish Hawk often does the same. When rising with a fish, the Bird of 

 Washington flies to a considerable distance, forming, in its line of course, a 

 very acute angle with the surface line of the water. My last opportunity of 

 seeing this bird was on the 15th of November, 1821, a few miles above the 

 mouth of the Ohio, when two passed over our boat, moving down the river 

 with a gentle motion. In a letter from a kind relative, Mr. W. Bakewell, 

 dated, "Falls of the Ohio, July 1819," and containing particulars relative 

 to the Swallow-tailed Hawk (Falco furcatus), that gentleman says: — 

 "Yesterday, for the first time, I had an opportunity of viewing one of those 

 magnificent birds which you call the Sea-Eagle, as it passed low over me, 

 whilst fishing. I shall be really glad when I can again have the pleasure of 

 seeing your drawing of it." 



Falco Washingtoni, Aud. Birds of America, pi. ii.; Orn. Biog., vol. i. p. 58. 



Adult Male. 



Tarsus and toes uniformly scutellate in their whole length. Bill bluish- 

 black, cere yellowish-brown, feet orange-yellow, claws bluish-black. Upper 

 part of the head, hind neck, back, scapulars, rump, tail-coverts, and posterior 

 tibial feathers blackish-brown, glossed with a coppery tint; throat, fore neck, 

 breast, and belly light brownish-yellow, each feather with a central blackish- 

 brown streak; wing-coverts light greyish-brown, those next the body 

 becoming darker; primary quills dark brown, deeper on their inner webs; 

 secondaries lighter, and on their outer webs of nearly the same light tint as 

 their coverts; tail uniform dark brown. 



Length 3 feet 7 inches; extent of wings 10 feet 2 inches; bill 31 inches 

 along the back; along the gap, which commences directly under the eye, to 

 the tip of the lower mandible 3^, and If deep. Length of wing when folded 

 32 inches; length of tail 15 inches; tarsus 4^, middle 4f, hind claw 2\. 



