FISHING OSPREY. 249 



though the length is as eight to one. Crude conjectures are 

 easily made. Thus, it has been supposed " that the small 

 quantity of nutriment which fish, as an article of food, is 

 known to afford, rendered this extent of canal necessary, in 

 order that every portion of the nutriment might be extracted," 

 and that although some fish-eating water-birds have a short 

 intestinal canal of large calibre, yet they can catch fish much 

 more readily than the Osprey, and can therefore fill their sto- 

 mach oftener. This explanation is obviously unsatisfactory, 

 since birds very similar in mode of flight and habits, as the 

 Frigate Pelican, liaA'e a wide intestine. It has been suggested 

 by me that the arrangement is made on account of the Osprey's 

 plunging into the sea, and being thus liable to sudden shocks, 

 which have less effect upon a slender coil of intestine. But 

 many plunging birds, as Gannets and Terns, have the intes- 

 tine wide, while in the Herons, which never plunge, it is as 

 narrow as in the Osprey. 



In North America the Osprey, according to Mr Audubon, 

 is generally distributed, occurring all over the United States, 

 from Texas northward, as well as along the north-western 

 coast. In Europe it is said by various authors to be found in 

 Siberia, Norway, Russia, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, 

 Spain, and Italy. In Africa it has been obtained in Egypt 

 and the Cape of Good Hope. M. Temminck states its occur- 

 rence in Japan, and there is a specimen from New Holland in 

 the museum of the University of Edinburgh. 



YouxG. — When fully fledged, the young differ considerably 

 from their parents, their upper parts being much darker, and 

 all the feathers there margined with white, giving them a re- 

 markably beautiful appearance. At this age, the bill is black, 

 the cere on both mandibles greyish-blue, the iris rich yellow^ ; 

 the feet pale blue, wuth a tinge of green, the soles flesh-coloured, 

 the claws black. The feathers of the head are white, each 

 with a central brownish-black lanceolate streak, those of the 

 occiput and nape white, with pale reddish-yellow tips. A 

 black band passes over the eye, and a broad band of the same 

 colour extends from behind the eye on each side down the neck, 



