BALD, EAGLE.

Elevated on the high dead limb of some gigantic tree that commands
a wide view of the neighboring shore and ocean, he seems calmly to
contemplate the motions of the various feathered tribes that pursue
their busy avocations below,--the snow-white Gulls slowly winnowing
the air; the busy _Tringoe_ coursing along the sands; trains of Ducks
streaming over the surface; silent and watchful Cranes, intent and
wading; clamorous crows; and all the winged multitudes that subsist by
the bounty of this vast liquid magazine of nature. High over all these
hovers one, whose action instantly arrests his whole attention. By his
wide curvature of wing, and sudden suspension in air, he knows 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 watches the result. Down, rapid as an arrow from heaven,
descends the distant object of his attention, the roar of its wings
reaching the ear as it disappears in the deep, making the surges foam
around. At this moment, the eager looks of the Eagle are all ardor; and
levelling his neck for flight, he sees the Fish Hawk once more emerge,
struggling with his prey, and mounting in the air with screams of
exultation. These are the signal for our hero, who launching into the
air, instantly gives chase, and soon gains on the Fish Hawk; each exerts
his utmost to mount above the other, displaying in these rencontres
the most elegant and sublime aerial evolutions. The unincumbered Eagle
rapidly advances, and is just on the point of reaching his opponent,
when, with a sudden scream, probably of despair and honest execration,
the latter drops his fish; the Eagle poising himself for a moment, as if
to take a more certain aim, descends like a whirlwind, snatches it in
his grasp ere it reaches the water, and bears his ill-gotten booty
silently away to the woods.

* * * * *

=_Stephen Elliott,[64] 1771-1830._=

From "Views of Nature."

=_257._= COMPLETENESS AND VARIETY OF NATURE.

What is there that will not be included in the history of nature? The
earth on which we tread, the air we breathe, the waters around the
earth, the material forms that inhabit its surface, the mind of man,
with all its magical illusions and all its inherent energy, the planets
that move around our system, the firmament of heaven--the smallest of
the invisible atoms which f