154 



EAGLE. 



a rich repast for the vulture, the raven, and the Bald Eagle, 1 the sub- 

 ject of the present account. 



" This bird has been long- known to naturalists, being common to both 

 continents, and occasionally met with from a very high northern lati- 

 tude, to the borders of the torrid zone, but chiefly in the vicinity of the 

 sea, and along the shores and cliffs of our lakes and large rivers. 

 Formed by nature for braving the severest cold ; feeding equally on the 

 produce of the sea and of the land ; possessing powers of flight capable 

 of outstripping even the tempests themselves ; unawed by any thing 

 but man: and from the ethereal heights to which he soars, looking 

 abroad, at one glance, on an immeasurable expanse of forests, fields, 

 lakes, and ocean, deep below him, he appears indifferent to the little 

 localities of change of seasons ; as in a few minutes he can pass from 

 summer to winter, from the lower to the higher regions of the atmos- 

 phere, the abode of eternal cold, and from thence descend at will to the 

 torrid or the arctic regions of the earth. He is therefore found at all 

 seasons in the countries he inhabits, but prefers all such places as have 

 been mentioned above, from the great partiality he has for fish. 



" In procuring these, he displays, in a very singular manner, the genius 

 and energy of his character, which is fierce, contemplative, daring, and 

 tyrannical ; attributes not exerted but on particular occasions ; but 

 when put forth, overpowering all opposition. Elevated on the high 

 dead limb of some gigantic tree that commands a wide view of the 

 neighbouring shore and ocean, he seems calmly to contemplate the mo- 

 tions of the various feathered tribes that pursue their busy avocations 

 below ; the snow-white gulls slowly winnowing the air ; the busy trin- 

 gce (sandpipers) coursing along the sands ; trains of ducks streaming 

 over the surface ; silent and watchful cranes, intent and wading ; cla- 

 morous crows, and all the winged multitudes that subsist by the bounty 

 of this vast liquid magazine of nature. High over all these hovers one, 

 whose action instantly arrests all his attention. By his wide curvature 

 of wing, and sudden suspension in air, he knows him to be the fish- 

 hawk, (Pandion Halicetus, Savigny,) settling over some devoted victim 

 of the deep. His eye kindles at the sight, and balancing himself, 

 with half-opened wings, on the branch, he watches the result. Down, 



1 The epithet bald, applied to this species, whose head is thickly covered with feathers, 

 is equally improper and absurd with the titles goatsucker, kingfisher, &c, bestowed 

 on others ; and seems to have been occasioned by the white appearance of the head 

 when contrasted with the dark colour of the rest of the plumage. The appellation, 

 however, being now almost universal, is retained in the following pages. 



