WASHINGTON" EAGLE AND FISH-HAWK. 
289 
were open, they Avould dive in the day-time after fish, and 
snatch them up in the manner of the fish-hawk ; and that 
they roosted generally on the shelves of the rocks, where 
they built their nests, of which he had discovered several by 
the quantity of white dung scattered below. 
" Convinced that the bird was unknown to naturalists, I 
felt particularly anxious to learn its habits, and to discover 
in what particulars it differed from the rest of its genus. My 
next meeting with this bird was a few years afterward, 
whilst engaged in collecting cray-fish on one of those flats 
which border and divide Green river, in Kentucky, near 
its junction with the Ohio. The river is there bordered by 
a range of high cliffs, which, for some distance, follow its 
windings. I observed on the rocks, which, at that place, 
are nearly perpendicular, a quantity of white ordure, which 
I attributed to owls, that might have resorted thither. I 
mentioned the circumstance to my companions, when one of 
them, who lived within a mile and a half of the place, told 
me it was from the nest of the Brown Eagle, meaning the 
White-headed Eagle (Falco Leucoceplialus), in its immature 
state. I assured him this could not be, and remarked, that 
neither the old nor the young birds of that species ever build 
in such places, but always in trees. Although he could not 
answer my objection, he stoutly maintained that a Brown 
Eagle of some kind, above the usual size, had built there ; 
and added, that he had espied the nest some days before, 
and had seen one of the old birds dive and catch a fish. 
This he thought strange, having, till then, always observed 
that both Brown Eagles and Bald Eagles procured this kind 
of food by robbing the fish-hawks. He said, that if I felt 
particularly anxious to know what nest it was, I might soon 
satisfy myself, as the old birds would come and feed their 
young with fish, for he had seen them do so before. 
" In high expectation, I seated myself about a hundred 
yards from the foot of the rock. Never did time pass more 
slowly. I could not help betraying the most impatient 
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