352 BULLETIN 16 7, UNITED STATES NATION.yL, MUSEUM 



lacking, this record was properly not accepted as sufficient evidence to 

 warrant adding the species to the North American list. Subse- 

 quently, however, two specimens were taken, the first on December 

 15, 1917, on St. Paul Island of the Pribilof group, and the second 

 on August 10, 1921, on Kodiak Island. 



PANDION HALIAETUS CAROLINENSIS (Gmelin) 

 AMERICAN OSPREY 



HABITS 



The osprey, as a species, is widely distributed throughout the world 

 and has been divided into five subspecies. Our race breeds in North 

 America but wanders to Central and South America. It has a wide 

 range over most of this continent, but, as a breeding bird, it is rare 

 or widely scattered throughout most of this range. In a few favor- 

 able localities, mainly along the Atlantic coast, it is very abundant 

 and breeds in several more or less dense colonies. As it lives entirely 

 on fish, it naturally prefers to live in the vicinity of the seacoast or 

 near some large body of water, lake, or stream, where it can find an 

 abundance of its finny prey. Given this food supply, it makes little 

 difference to the osprey what its surroundings are. It is equally at 

 home near the shore of some remote wilderness lake, on timbered or 

 open islands along the coast, in the valleys of inland streams, in open 

 farming country, or even close to houses. In the last two localities 

 it is jealously protected and often encouraged to breed by placing 

 cart wheels or other supports for its nest in trees or on poles. In 

 the region where I am most familiar with it, it has become a common 

 dooryard bird, almost a domestic pet, and consequently very tame. 



The history of the status of the osprey in Massachusetts is rather 

 interesting, as illustrating how little some of the early writers on 

 local ornithology knew about the birds of the State outside of the 

 limited regions with which they were familiar. Dr. J. A. Allen 

 (1869) wrote : "It seems at first a little strange that this noble bird 

 should not be found breeding anywhere on the Massachusetts coast. 

 * * * The present puny second forest-growth affords it no suit- 

 able breeding places, and this is no doubt the reason of its being now 

 but a transient visitor here." This remarkable statement shows 

 lamentable ignorance of the nesting requirements of the osprey and 

 a lack of acquaintance with the forests of Bristol County, which in 

 those days were far from "puny." This error was repeated by Minot 

 (1877) and Stearns (1883). 



It was my old field cora]ianion, Frederic H. Carpenter (1887) who 

 first called our attention to the large breeding colonies of these fine 

 birds in southern Massachusetts. It was he who first introduced me 

 to these interesting colonies, with which we have kept in close touch 

 ever since. 



