258 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50 



extended. The grasp of the long, sharp daws is aided in holding 

 the slippery prey by the horny spicules on the underside of the toes. 

 If the bird has been successful in capture it rises and flies to an 

 open perch in a tree, carrying the fish head forward, grasped with its 

 feet one behind the other. As it comes to the perch one foot is re- 

 leased to grasp the limb. In feeding on the larger fish flesh is 

 stripped and the head, bones, and body are discarded. As the bird 

 comes regularly to favored resting places these discards accumulate 

 on the ground below when not carried away by scavengers. The 

 birds feed as indicated on both salt and fresh water, and may go 

 some distance from land as around the off-shore islands of Isla Villa 

 on the coast of Los Santos, and Farrallon del Chirii, near La Venta, 

 Code. On the Rio Chiman near the mouth of the Curutu I saw 

 one carrying a bird the size of a small pigeon in its feet, a highly 

 unusual occurrence and one seldom recorded. 



Occasionally ospreys rest on a gravel bar, usually so that they may 

 bathe. Near Fort Amador one came at low tide to a small islet ex- 

 posed by the falling water, walked with short mincing steps for a little 

 distance, and then began to splash its breast and wings in the wash 

 of small waves. 



The call, that I have heard only occasionally in Panama, is a high- 

 pitched, whistled note, repeated several times, that carries for some 

 distance. 



Migrants are seen occasionally in company with the great flights 

 of Swainson's hawks. At such times the osprey may stop to rest 

 in open country at a distance from water. I have observed one, 

 for example, perched briefly in a huge dead tree in an inland area 

 near El Uracillo on the Atlantic side of Code, and another in a 

 similar situation on one of the ridges at the base of the Cerro Azul. 



There are 3 records at present of ospreys banded in the north as 

 nestlings, one from New York State recovered near Jaque when 2 

 years old, one from New Jersey marked in July and killed at La 

 Jagua the following December, and one from Maryland with the date 

 of June 23, found near Tonosi on October 4 of the same year. 



Near Jaque on March 20, 1946, one showed heavy molt in the 

 flight feathers of both wings. One taken here a week later appeared 

 about to begin migration as it was extremely fat. Some of the birds 

 that I have seen in summer were in very worn plumage, suggesting 

 that they had not returned north because of an abnormal physiological 

 state. 



This species, in addition to the usual name is known locally as the 

 gavildn de playa and the dguila de mar. 



