OSPREY. 35 



in New Zealand ; but in Tasmania Mr. Gould says he him- 

 self shot it in Kecherche Bay, at the extreme south of that 

 island, though, in his opinion, the bird which is found there and 

 in Australia is sj^ecifically distinct — the P. le ncoaylial ii s jnat 

 mentioned. He further states that Mr. Gilbert discovered 

 it breeding at Swan River and at Port Essington. Thence 

 it extends northward to New Guinea, where that enterprising 

 and philosophical naturalist Mr. Wallace obtained it, and to 

 most if not all of the islands of the Malay and Indian Archi- 

 pelagos — Ceram, Celebes, Borneo, and Java. It has not been 

 recorded from the Philippines, but Mr. Swinhoe says it is 

 abundant in Formosa, and it is met with in Japan. So far 

 as our knowledge is at all complete, it extends throughout the 

 continent of Asia, and in India it is spread, according to 

 Mr. Jerdon, all over the country, and breeds there. It is also 

 generally dispersed throughout Africa, from Natal north- 

 wards, along both east and west coasts, and the course of 

 the larger rivers. Dr. von Heuglin found it breeding on the 

 Dahalak islets in the Pied Sea. Returning to Europe, it occu- 

 pies every suitable station from Greece and Spain, where it 

 breeds — sometimes on sea-cliifs, as at Gibraltar, — to Lapland. 

 The Osprey measures about twenty-two inches in length. 

 The beak is black, the cere blue, the irides yellow ; the 

 top of the head and nape of the neck whitish, streaked with 

 dark brown, the feathers elongated. The upper surface of 

 the body and wings dark brown, often with a purple gloss ; 

 the ends of the primaries black ; the uj^per surface of the 

 tail waved with two shades of brown ; the chin and throat 

 white ; across the upper part of the breast a light brown 

 band. The belly, thighs, and under tail-coverts, white ; 

 under surface of the wing white at the axilla, brown on the 

 outer edge ; under surface of the primaries dark brown, the 

 shafts white ; under surface of the tail barred with greyish- 

 brown on a white ground : the legs and toes blue ; the toes 

 partly reticulated, but with a few broad scales near the end, 

 their under surface covered with short, sharp spines : claws 

 long, all of nearly uniform length, and solid, — that is, not 

 grooved underneath ; their colour black. 



