292 
WILD SCENES AND SONG-BIKDS. 
seldom possessed. He was brave, so is tlie eagle ; like it, too, 
lie was the terror of his foes ; and his fame, extending from 
pole to pole, resembles the majestic soaring of the mightiest 
of the feathered tribe If America has reason to be proud 
of her Washington, so has she to be prond of her great 
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, and laid aside her coyness, and to a 
favorite tree they continually resorted. I pursued them un- 
successfully 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 man- 
ner, as if with the intention of checking any retreating move- 
ment 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 Novem- 
ber, 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 con- 
taining particulars relative to the swallow-tailed hawk {Falco 
fuTcatus\ that gentleman says : ' Yesterday, for the fi.rst time, 
I had an opportunity of viewing one of these 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.' " 
I can mention but one instance in my life — and it has been 
no inactive one — in which I have seen what I knew to be 
this or a similar new species. Nearly fifteen years, ago when 
