'904J Our Eagles and Ospreys. 187 



and sometimes selects a tree quite away from the water The 

 nest is almost as large as a bald eagle's, but built in a difTerent 

 situation. The osprey is a late breeder, the bald eagle an early 

 breeder. The former usually lays its eg-gs— at least in Ontario - 

 about May 20th, the latter about April 12th ; the golden eagle 

 about the end of April. Whete not harassed and molested The 

 two former birds are vehement in defence of their nests, and 

 greatly resent intrusion ; but 1 notice where they have been much 

 disturbed, they lose spirit and do not come within gunshot of an 

 mtruder, hardly venturing to attack him if he climbs their tree. 



I have not observed the osprey at Charleston Lake, or seen 

 more than three nests in North Frontenac. One of these, in the 

 township of Bedford, I visited with a friend on May 29th, 1903. 

 It was built on a partially dead limb of a living maple, and is the 

 only osprey's nest I have ever seen in a living tree. These birds 

 were fortunate in hatching their young, which, I later learnt, they 

 brought out in safety. But usually, as in the case of the eagles, 

 the hue and cry is raised and the tree is either felled after the 

 young are hatched or else the old ones are shot whilst incubating 

 their eg-pfs. 



'^ib- 



In some parts of North America the osprey is still fairly 

 plentiful and is said to breed in communities, but this is not the 

 case with our Canadian bird, which is invariably solitary, and 

 only found in pairs widely separated. Again, in nesting, as men- 

 tioned above, the site is usually a pine, a tamarac or hemlock 

 stub, the altitude varying from 30 to 60 feet from the ground. 



In Scotland the nest was usually placed on some rocky island 

 in a highland loch, or on a ruined tower, as at Loch Awe in 

 Argylshire, and I believe on the coast of Maine, rocks by the sea 

 coast or even the ground have been chosen, but not so in Ontario. 

 It is to be hoped these noble birds, both eagles and ospreys, 

 may continue to enliven the beautiful lakes, and what remain of 

 forests, in Ontario, but as matters are now proceeding, it cannot 

 be many years before they become here, birds of the past. 



