FALCONID.E. 



359 



THE OSPREY. 



Pandi'on haliaetus (Linnaeus). 



The Osprey is at times not uncommon on the sea-shores and 

 inland waters of our islands, especially in autumn : for instance no 

 fewer than ten were recorded between the Tyne and the Thames in 

 the months of September and October iS8i ; but the majority of 

 these visitors are immature birds, some of which would doubtless 

 remain on our coasts, if unmolested, until the following May. 

 Estuaries are favourite haunts ; and in those of Sussex and Hamp- 

 shire the bird is known as the Mullet-Hawk, owing to its partiality 

 for that fish. Tradition states that it formerly bred on the south 

 coast of England, and the Rev. H. A. Macpherson believes that it 

 did so in Lakeland until the end of the last century. In Scotland 

 there were at least two eyries in Galloway up to about i860, but at 

 the present day those which are known to exist are confined to the 

 Highlands, where their safety depends upon protection ; while to 

 the Hebrides, Orkneys and Shetlands, the Osprey is only an acci- 

 dental visitor. Mr. R. J. Ussher informs me that he has fifty 



