244 PANDION HALIAETUS. 



land, as is attested by my friend Mr A. G. Macgillivray. In- 

 dividuals liaA^e frequently been seen, and sometimes shot on 

 the Tweed. Mr Stevenson of Edinburgh has in his collec- 

 tion a fine specimen killed there by himself I have seen one 

 that was shot in Fifeshire, and another among the Pentland 

 Hills, near Edinburgh. Mr S. H. Greenhow of Tynemouth 

 informs me that in 1835 four Ospreys were shot in April and 

 May in that neighbourhood, and another in September. Speci- 

 mens have been shot in all the eastern and in a few of the mid- 

 land counties of England. Mr White of Selborne has men- 

 tioned an instance of its having been killed on a pond not far 

 from that village ; and Montagu and Dr ]\Ioore certify its not 

 very unfrequent occurrence in Devonshire. 



It appears that the Osprey is not a permanent resident with 

 us, but arrives in spring, and departs towards the end of 

 autumn, or in the beginning of winter. Its breeding-places 

 are generally the ruined buildings on islands in lakes. Mon- 

 tagu states that he once saw its nest " on the top of a chimney 

 of a ruin, in an island on Loch Lomond ; it was large and 

 flat, formed of sticks laid across, and resting on the sides of the 

 chimney, lined with flags." According to the same observer, 

 it " flies heavily, not much unlike the common Buzzard, but 

 not unfrequently glides slowly along with motionless wing. 

 When examining the water for prey, its wings are in con- 

 tinual motion, although it remains stationary for a consider- 

 able time ; its superior weight perhaps renders it difficult to 

 continue suspended in the air, with the imperceptible motion 

 of the wings observed in the Kestrel." When crossing the 

 bridge over the river Avon, at Aveton GifFord, in April 1811, 

 he " observed an Osprey hawking for fish ; at last its attention 

 was arrested, and, like the Kestrel in search of mice, it became 

 stationary, as if examining what had attracted its attention. 

 After a pause of some time, it descended to within about fifty 

 yards of the surface of the water, and there continued hovering 

 for another short interval, and then precipitated itself into the 

 water with such great celerity as to be nearly immersed. In 

 three or four seconds the bird rose without any apparent diffi- 

 culty, and carried off" a trout of moderate size, and instead of 



