264 
FALCO WASHINGTON!!. 
readiness, we readied the rock. Some posted themselves 
at the foot, others upon it, hut in vain. We passed the 
entire day, without either seeing or hearing an eagle, 
the sagacious birds, no doubt, having anticipated an 
invasion, and removed their young to new quarters. 
“ I come at last to the day which I had so often and 
so ardently desired. Two years had gone by since the 
discovery of the nest, in fruitless excursions ; but my 
wishes were no longer to remain ungratified. In 
returning from the little village of Henderson, to the 
house of Doctor Rankin, about a mile distant, I saw an 
eagle rise from a small enclosure not a hundred yards 
before me, where the Doctor had, a few days before, 
slaughtered some hogs, and alight upon a low tree 
branching over the road. I prepared my double-barreled 
piece, which I constantly carry, and went slowly and 
cautiously towards him. Quite fearlessly he awaited 
my approach, looking upon me with undaunted eye. 
I fired, and he fell. Before I reached him, he was 
dead. With what delight did I survey the magnificent 
bird ! Had the finest salmon ever pleased him as he 
did me ? — Never. I ran and presented him to my 
friend, with a pride which they alone can feel, who, 
like me, have devoted themselves from their earliest 
childhood to such pursuits, and who have derived from 
them their first pleasures. To others I must seem to 
* prattle out of fashion.’ The Doctor, who was an 
experienced hunter, examined the bird with much 
satisfaction, and frankly acknowledged he had never 
before seen or heard of it. 
“ The name which I have chosen for this new species 
of eagle, ‘ the bird of Washington,’ may, by some, be 
considered as preposterous and unfit ; but as it is 
indisputably the noblest bird of its genus that has yet 
been discovered in the United States, I trust I shall be 
allowed to honour it with the name of one yet nobler, 
who was the saviour of his country, and whose name 
will ever be dear to it. To those who may be curious 
to know my reasons, I can only say, that, as the new 
world gave me birth and liberty, the great man who 
