450 PANDIONES. 



Pandion albigiilaris, Brehn, Nawn. 18-55, p. 268. 

 Pandion minor, Brehm, I. c. 

 Pandion fasciatus, Brehn, I. c. 



Pandion lialiaetus, var. carolinensis, Ridgway in Baird, Brewer 8f 

 Ridgw. B. N. A. iii. p. 182 (1874). 



Nestling. Covered with down of a sooty brown colour, except 

 along the centre of the back, along the carpal bend of the wing, on 

 the breast and flanks, where it is dusky white ; all the feathers of 

 the back are dark brown, with a broad tip of ochraceous buff; 

 crown and ear-coverts blackish ; eyebrow and throat white. 



Young. Glossy chocolate-brown, all the feathers terminally mar- 

 gined with buffy white, these margins somewhat tinged with rufous, 

 and broadest on the secondary quiUs and upper tail-coverts ; crown 

 of head black, with white or fulvous margins to the feathers, giving 

 a distinctly streaked appearance ; nape white, not streaked ; from 

 behind the eye a broad line of white runs down the side of the 

 neck, slightly streaked with black ; below this another line of black 

 feathers, including the ear-coverts, is conterminous ; sides of face 

 and entire underparts pure white, somewhat tinged here and there 

 with yellowish buff; under wiug-coverts white, the outer ones 

 strongly washed with tawny buff, and crossed with broad bars of 

 dark brown ; primaries black, secondaries chocolate-brown like the 

 back, and tipped in the same manner, all of them whitish at base 

 of inner web, indistinctly barred with pale brown ; tail-feathers 

 alternately barred with dark sepia-brown and ashy brown, tipped 

 with whitish, and having whitish shafts ; the bars six in number, 

 and more distinct on the inner web, which is buffy white. 



Adult. Above brown, most of the feathers with obsolete margins 

 of paler brown, more distinct on the wing-coverts ; primaries black, 

 secondaries brown like the back, the primaries pale, but uniform 

 whity brown below, the secondaries whitish on the inner web, with 

 indistinct bars of ashy brown ; tail almost uniform brown, tipped 

 with whity brown, and shaded with ashy externally, the inner web 

 obsoletely barred with ashy brown, a little more distinct below, 

 where the interspaces are whitish ; head brown, with white bases 

 to the feathers ; a broad white streak from behind the eye running 

 down the sides of the neck ; ear-coverts blackish brown ; sides of 

 neck uniform with the back ; sides of face and entire underparts 

 white, the breast varied with brown centres to the feathers of more 

 or less extent, the chin and fore part of cheeks also slightly streaked 

 with dark brown ; axillaries and a few of the flank-feathers also 

 marked with rufous brown like the breast ; under wing-coverts 

 buffy white, with dark brown centres, the outermost almost entirely 

 brown , with whitish tips ; cere blue ; bill black ; feet blue ; iris 

 yellow. Total length 24 inches, culmen 1-75, wing 19-8, tail 9-5, 

 tarsus 2-4. 



Ohs. Ospreys seem to get whiter on the head with age ; but the 

 mottling on the breast is at present unintelligible to me. It appears 

 to be strongly marked in all old birds ; but the brown centres to 

 the feathers, which give the bird its mottled appearance, are never 



