their beauty of plumage, variety and melody of song, diversity of form, habits, disposition and faculties, our birds well merit the industrious observation which has been bestowed upon them. They have been highly fortunate in their historians, for no department of our animal kingdom has been so thoroughly investigated as this; and the indefatigable labor, science and genius of such men as Wilson, Audubon, Bonaparte, and Nuttall, have left us but little to expect from future researches.
The vulture called Turkey Buzzard, is found in large numbers in the southern states, where he is protected by law, on account of his services in the removal of carrion. This bird has never been known to breed in any of the Atlantic states north of New Jersey. In the southern cities, during the winter, they pass the night on the roofs of houses, and are fond of warming themselves in the smoke that issues from the chimneys. This bird is about two and a half feet in length, and six in breadth; the upper plumage is glossed with green and bronze, the fore part of the neck is bare. The Black Vulture is smaller, and flies in flocks; the range of this bird is confined by very narrow limits to the southern states. The Condor is not uncommon in the Rocky Mountains; but his peculiar residence is among the precipitous cliffs of the majestic Andes.
The Common or Wandering Falcon lives along the seacoast of the country, and is said to breed in the cedar swamps of New Jersey. The American Sparrow Hawk is found principally in the warmer parts of the states, and builds its nest in a hollow or decayed tree, on some elevated place. In the winter it becomes familiar, and approaches to the neighborhood of man; at this time it lives on such small game as it can find in the way of mice or lizards. The flight of this bird is irregular. It perches on the top of a dead tree or pole in the middle of a field, and sits there in an almost perpendicular position for an hour together, reconnoitering the ground below in every direction for the favorite articles of its food. The bluejays have a particular antipathy to this bird, who punishes their enmity by occasionally making a meal of one of them.
American Sparrow Hawk.
The American Fish Hawk is a formidable, vigorous-winged, and well-known bird, which subsists altogether on the fishes that swarm in our bays rivers, and creeks. It is doubtless the most numerous of its genus in the United States, and besides lining our seacoast from Georgia to Canada, it penetrates far into the interior.
Fish Hawk.
‘The motions of the fish hawk,’ says Mr. Audubon, ‘in the air are graceful, and as majestic as those of the eagle. It rises with ease to a great height by extensive circlings, performed apparently by mere inclinations of the wings and tail. It dives at times to some distance with the wings partially closed, and resumes its sailing, as if these plunges were made for amusement only. Its wings are extended at right angles to the body, and when thus flying, it is easily distinguishable from all other hawks by the eye of an observer, accustomed to note the flight of birds. Whilst in search of food, it flies with easy flappings at a moderate height above the water, and with an apparent listlessness, although in reality it is keenly observing the objects beneath. No sooner does it spy a fish suited to its taste, than it checks its course with a sudden shake of its wings and tail, which gives it the appearance of being poised in the air for a moment, after which it plunges headlong with great rapidity into the water, to secure its prey, or continue its flight, if disappointed by having observed the fish sink deeper.
‘When it plunges into the water in pursuit of a fish, it sometimes proceeds deep enough to disappear for an instant. The surge caused by its descent is so great as to make the spot around it present the appearance of a mass of foam. On rising with its prey, it is seen holding it in the manner represented in the plate. It mounts a few yards into the air, shakes the water from its plumage, squeezes the fish with its talons, and immediately proceeds towards its nest, to feed its young, or to a tree, to devour the fruit of its industry in peace. When it has satisfied its hunger, it does not, like other hawks, stay perched until hunger again urges it forth, but usually sails about at a great height over the neighboring waters.
‘The fish hawk has a great attachment to the tree to which it carries its prey, and will not abandon it, unless frequently disturbed, or shot at whilst feeding there. It shows the same attachment to the tree on which it has built its first nest, and returns to it year after year.’
The Swallow-tailed Hawk.—This beautiful kite breeds and passes the summer in the warmer parts of the United States, and is also probably resident in all tropical and temperate America, migrating into the southern as well as the northern hemisphere. In the former, according to Viellot, it is found in Peru, and as far as Buenos Ayres; and though it is extremely rare to meet with this species as far as the latitude of forty degrees in the Atlantic states, yet, tempted by the abundance of the fruitful valley of the Mississippi, individuals have been seen along that river as far as the Falls of St. Anthony, in the forty-fourth degree of north latitude. Indeed, according to Fleming, two stragglers have even found their devious way to the strange climate of Great Britain.
Swallow-tailed Hawk.
They appear in the United States about the close of April or beginning of May, and are very numerous in the Mississippi territory, twenty or thirty being sometimes visible at the same time, often collecting locusts and other large insects, which they are said to feed on from their claws while flying; at times also seizing upon the nests of locusts and wasps, and like the honey-buzzard, devouring both the insects and their larvæ. Snakes and lizards are their common food in all parts of America. In the month of October they begin to retire to the south, at which season Mr. Bartram observed them in great numbers assembled in Florida, soaring steadily at great elevations for several days in succession, and slowly passing towards their winter quarters along the Gulf of Mexico.48
Other hawks in the United States are the Sharp-shinned, the Great-footed or Duck, the Pigeon, Cooper’s White-tailed, Red-tailed, Broad-winged, Mississippi Kite, Black, Marsh, Stanley’s, Red-shouldered, Ash-colored, and Slate-colored Hawks.
Washington Eagle.—For the first accurate observation of this bird, we have been indebted to the untiring study and genius of Audubon, who first noticed it in the year 1814. He is three feet and seven inches long; the extent of his wings is ten feet two inches. His plumage is compact and glossy, the upper parts being of a dark, shining coppery brown; the throat, breast and belly of a bright rich cinnamon color. He lives in the neighborhood of the seashore, lakes and rivers, and subsists chiefly on fish. ‘The name which I have chosen for this new species of eagle,’ says its great discoverer, ‘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 honor it with the name of one yet nobler, who was the savior 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 insured its independence is next to my heart. He had a nobility of mind and a generosity of soul, such as are seldom possessed. He was brave, so is the eagle; like it, too, he was the terror of his foes; and his fame, extending from pole to pole, resembles the majestic soarings of the mightiest of the feathered tribe. If America has reason to be proud of her Washington, so has she to be proud of her great eagle.’
Washington Eagle.
White-headed or Bald Eagle.—This bird is abundant in all the latitudes of the United States, but shows a predilection for the warmer
