48 ORNITHOLOGECAL RAMBLES. 



Siddlesham, on the borders of Pagham harbour, 

 which, from a former letter, you will recognize as 

 a favourite haunt of this bird. During the sum- 

 mer and autumn of 1839, I enjoyed many oppor- 

 tunities of observing an osprey, and of contem- 

 plating the unchecked display of his powers on 

 this fine sheet of water. There were no wild-fowl 

 shooters at that time of the year to interfere with 

 him, and I need hardly say that he experienced 

 no interruption from me. 



He seldom ventured far out to sea, but at low 

 tide, when the waters had receded from the beach, 

 he would make an expedition to the south, sur- 

 vejdng the shores from a great height, and occa- 

 sionally dashing down to seize a fish just beyond 

 the white surf that marked the outline of the 

 coast as far as the eye could reach. 



The oft-told, but frequently doubted, story* of 

 an eagle, i. e., an osprey, having been carried 

 under water and drowned by a large pike, into 

 whose broad shoulders the bird had fixed his 

 talons, derives some credibility from the circum- 

 stances attending the capture of an osprey a few 

 years since near Rottingdean, a little village about 

 three miles from Kemp-town. The facts were 

 as follows : — A shepherd's boy, while tending his 



* Lloyd's " Field Sports of the North of Europe." 



