BIRDS OF PREY 163 



gets it. The mother is beside, over, and under him as 

 he drops for it, encouraging him with her calls, and he 

 soon responds with a little cry of unmistakable triumph. 

 But he is not allowed to eat it on the ground, as he 

 would like to do. An imperative call from the adult 

 makes the young hunter exert his strength and follow to 

 the nearest low perch before he tastes it. You watch and 

 wonder at the instinct that prompts such skilful training, 

 and the longer you watch the more there is to see. 



364. FISH HAWK, OR AMERICAN OSFREY . — Pandion 



haliaetus carolinensis. 



Family : The Falcons, Hawks, Eagles, etc. 



Length: 20.75-25.00. 



Adult Male: Head, neck, and under parts white; a broad black line 

 I'rom bill through eye ; top of head, and nape sometimes streaked with 

 blackish ; a few light brown spots on the breast ; back of wings and 

 tail dark gray-brown, the latter banded with black and tipped with 

 white. 



Adult Female: Similar, but upper breast distinctly spotted with brown. 



Young: Upper parts dusky brown, each feather tipped with white or 

 buffy ; rest of jtlumage like that of adults. 



Doiviuj Young : Dull sooty grayish above, with broad white stripe down 

 the middle of the back, and a dark stripe on the sides of the head ; 

 crown striped white and dark ; under parts whitish, washed with 

 brown on the chest. 



Geographical Distribution : Temperate and tropical America, north to 

 Hudson Bay and Alaska. 



Breeding Range : Santa Barbara Islands, and locally along the entire sea- 

 coast and on some of the inland hikes. 



Breeding Season : April and May. 



Nest : Bulky ; of sticks ; on trees near water. 



Eggs: 2 to 4 ; bufFy white or deep buff, spotted with shades of browu 

 and purplish gray. Size 2.44 X 1.81. 



Wherever there are fish there are pretty sure to be 

 fishermen and Fish Hawks. Right good comrades are 



