20 
POPULAU HISTORY OF BIRDS. 
than this bird of bad moral character, which does not get 
his living honestly. . . . Besides he is a rank coward ; the 
little king-bird, not bigger than a sparrow, attacks him 
boldly, and drives him out of the district. He is therefore 
by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest Cin- 
cinnati of America"^/^ We extract part of Wilson^s descrip- 
tion: the fish-hawk alluded to, is the osprej {Pa^tdion Ha- 
Uaetus) : 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 motions of 
the various feathered tribes that pursue their busy avocations 
below j the snow-white gulls slowly winnowing the air; 
the busy tringae coursing along the sands ; trains of ducks 
streaming over the surface ; silent and watchful cranes, in- 
tent and wading; clamorous crows; and all the winged mul- 
titudes that subsist by the bounty of this vast liquid maga- 
zine of nature. High over all these hovers one, whose action 
instantly arrests his whole attention. By his wide curvature 
of wdng, and sudden suspension in air, he know^s him to be 
the fish-hawk, 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 w^atches the result. 
* Benjamin Franklin. 
