WASHINGTON SEA-EAGLE. 
5tj 
In the mouth of January following, I saw a pair of these Eagles flying 
over the Palls 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 coy- 
ness, and to a favourite tree they continually resorted. I pursued them 
unsuccessfully 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 re- 
lative, Mr. W. Bakewell, dated, “ Falls of the Ohio, J uly 1819,” and contain- 
ing 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 pos- 
terior tibial feathers blackish-brown, glossed with a coppery tint ; throat, 
fore-neck, breast, and belly light brownish-yellow, each feather with a cen- 
tral 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 II deep. Length of wing when 
folded 32 inches ; length of tail 15 inches ; tarsus 4£, middle 41, hind 
claw 2S. 
