THE OSPREY 61 



what I took to be a pair of Ospreys hawking above a 

 river in the neighbourhood of Pan. In America, where 

 it is gregarious, as many as three hundred pairs have been 

 seen nesting on one small island, and it is found as far 

 south as Brazil. It is in America that an amusing story is 

 related of the Osprey. It is said to utter a particular call 

 note when carrying back fish to its young. The Bald- 

 headed Eagle knows this note well, and on hearing it 

 immediately gives chase, usually depriving the captor 

 of its prey. After a time, however, the Ospreys of a 

 certain district, having been robbed of their fish times 

 without number by the Eagle, hit upon an idea of paying 

 out their hereditary enemy. Having stealthily eaten 

 the fish, they flew out over the loch uttering the well- 

 known cry, but carrying only the skeleton of the fish 

 with them. The Eagle, on hearing the note so welcome 

 to him, gave chase immediately, and after doubling and 

 diving for a time the Osprey, to the Eagle's disgust, 

 dropped — not a fish for the gratification of the appetite 

 of the larger bird of prey, but only the backbone, without 

 flesh! 



It would appear that the Osprey was formerly used in 

 Great Britain for the capturing of salmon. At all events, 

 by an Act passed in the reign of William and Mary, persons 

 were prohibited at a certain period of the year from taking 

 salmon by Hawks. Evidently the Hawk thus employed 

 was either an Osprey or a Sea Eagle, and it is well known 

 that the former bird is capable of carrying off a good- 

 sized grilse, or even a small salmon, for the gratification 

 of its young. 



An abbreviated description of the Osprey may be 

 of interest. There is, I believe, no seasonal change of 

 plumage. Tlie adult male has the head white, striped 

 with dark brown ; ear coverts and a stripe to the hind 

 neck, blackish brown. Upper parts dark glossy brown. 



