332 BULLETIN OF THE 



The great variation in plumage attending differences of age and sex in 

 this species have given rise to numerous synonymes, of which twenty arc 

 cited by Mr. G. R. Gray in his Catalogue of British Birds. 



90.* Pandion haliaetus Cuvier. Fish Hawk. Ospret. 



Falco haliaetus Linne, Faun. Suec, 22, 1735.— Wilson, Am. Orn., V. 13, pi. 

 xxxvii, 1812. — Bonap., Ann. N. Y. Lye. N. Hist., II, 26, 1828. — Audubon, 

 Orn. Biog.,1,415, pi. lxxxi, 1832. — Nuttall, Man. Am. Orn., I, 78, 1832. 



Pandion haliaetus Cov., Reg. An., 1,316, 1817. — Audubon, Synopsis, 12, 1839. 

 — G. It. Gray, Cat. Brit. Birds, 5, 1863. — Pelzeln, Ornithol. Brasiliens, 

 4, 1868.— Heuglin, Ornithol. Nordost-Afrika's, 54, 1869. 



Falco arundinaceus Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 263, 1788. 



Falco carolinensis Gmelin, Ibid. 



Pandion carolinensis Bonap., Geog. and Comp. List, 3, 1838. — Cassin, Illust. 

 Birds Cal, Texas, etc., 112, 1854. — Brewer, N. Am. Ool., 53, 1857. — 

 Cassin, Baird's Birds N. Am., 44, 1858. 



Falco cayanensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 268, 1788. 



Anuila piscatrix Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept., I, 29, 1807. 



Pandion flucialilis Savig., Descr. de l'Egypte, Hist. Nat., I, 96, 1809. 



Pandion americamis Vieillot, Gal. des Ois., I, 33, 1828. 



Pandion indicus Hodgson, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 366, 1837. 



Abundant everywhere ; especially so around the lakes of the Upper 

 St. John's. Commences nesting in January. At Lake Monroe I 

 counted six iic:sts from a single point of view. Their nests were also 

 frequent all along the river. They generally selecting a dead tree in 

 which to build, and often those situated in cleared fields, their nests 

 were conspicuous objects, and could usually be seen from a long dis- 

 tance. Even these harmless birds do not fail to attract the fire of the 

 numerous sportsmen who visit this region in winter, some of whom 

 are ignorant enough to believe that when shooting them they are killing 

 "bald eagles." 



Gmelin, in his " Systema Naturae," described the present species not only 

 as Falco haliaetus, but he gave to it also the names F. carolinensis, F. arun- 

 dinaceus, and F. cayanensis, apparently indicating under them, however, 

 what he regarded as varieties rather than as distinct species. For many 

 years, however, the common fish-hawk was generally regarded as having 

 an almost cosmopolitan distribution. Bonaparte spoke of it in 182C, in his 

 Synopsis of the Birds of the United States,* as follows : " Inhabits almost 

 every part of the globe near waters; much more common in North Amer- 

 ica than in Europe." Ten or twelve years later, however, he seems to 



* Annals of tho N. Y. Lyceum of Nat History, Vol. II, p. 26. 



