AMERICAN OSPREY 371 



tained one or more nests of the English sparrow or the starling 

 among the lower sticks. Mr. Abbott (1911) says that "Purple 

 Grackles especially, commonly build in convenient niches among 

 the sticks even of the ground nests. Being naturally gregarious, 

 they will congregate to the number of six or seven pairs in one 

 Osprey's nest. * * * Ospreys are recorded to have admitted 

 House Wrens and even Night Herons as basement tenants. On the 

 beaches, Meadow Mice have found the nests to be convenient mounds 

 under which to construct their multifarious run-ways." 



Mr, Abbott (1911) found the ospreys nesting in the night-heron 

 colony on Gardiners Island, apparently peacefully. But Mr. Allen 

 (1892) gives a ditl'erent impression of the behavior of the ospreys 

 toward the herons, which the former may have regarded as enemies ; 

 he writes: 



In the swamp near the Fish Hawks' nests was a colony of Night Herons, 

 nesting in the smaller trees near the swamp. Ahnost daily a flock of Crows 

 from Connecticut were accustomed to rob this heronry, covering the ground 

 with the shells of the eggs they had eaten, and occasionally treating a few 

 Fish Hawks' nests in the same way. The Fish Hawks seemed to unjustly 

 accuse the Herons of this robbery, as the Herons were constantly persecuted 

 by the Hawks. Whenever a Heron appeared he was instantly set upon by 

 one or more of them, and the Herons would seek safety in the thick under- 

 brush where the Hawks could not follow them. Herons were killed, however, 

 almost daily by the Hawks. 



Enemies. — In addition to the thoughtless gunner, who shoots every 

 large bird that he can, and the greedy egg collector, who takes all 

 the eggs he can get for exchange, the osprey has a number of natural 

 enemies, most of which are more annoying than harmful. The bald 

 eagle is undoubtedly its worst enemy. Its well-known habit of at- 

 tacking the osprey, to rob it of its well-earned prey, has been de- 

 scribed in my account of the southern bald eagle and many times by 

 other writers, so I shall not repeat it here. In Florida, where the 

 ospreys often nest well inland, the eagles lie in wait for them as they 

 fly from their fishing grounds back to their nests. The osprej'^ sel- 

 dom escapes from these attacks, but a clever attempt at dodging, 

 when pursued by two eagles, is thus described by Henry G. Vennor 

 (1876) : 



On first hearing the shrill screams of its pursuers, the poor bird made 

 desperate efforts by straight flight to reach the drowned wood-lands in which 

 its nest and young were located ; but long before it reached these its course 

 was intercepted by one of the Eagles, while the other made repeated and fierce 

 fitooi)s at it from above. The Fish Hawk, however, still held on firmly to its 

 prize, and made repeated attempts to baffle the onsets of the Eagle, in many 

 of which it was successful. Before long both birds had risen to a great 

 height — the one altematingly surmounting the other; but we could still detect 

 every now and then the gleam of the fish in the sunlight. Suddenly, the 



