50 



THE OSPREY. 



ranging from three to five months would exceed decimated; it would be a task away beyond the scope 



I 000,000. of this paper. There are small grounds for fear on 



Add to this the transient visitants of semi-annual the latter score as they appear to have few enemies 



occurrence, at least one hundred times as numerous, while nesting. As far as known to me, the wood 



all of which glean a comfortable living, and the whole mouse, red squirrel, chipmunk, blacksnake, blue jay, 



tribe entirely beneficial to man from an economic and cowbird occasionally prove destructive to eggs or 



standpoint, and then try to figure out the number of young, but they are few in numbers and importance, 



injurious insects they destroy, or the probable effect The small boy is scarcely in evidence by reason of 



upon vegetation should they be exterminated or even the difficulty of locating the nest. 



AN OSPREY'S VIGIL. 



HARRY C. OBERHOLSER, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



AN incident in the life history of the American mer of 1876 a small group of tall locust trees upon 



Osprey which chanced to fall under the pres- one of which a pair of ospreys had their abode. At 



ent writer's observation does not appear ever a time when one of the birds, presumably the female, 



to have found its way into print. At least no arrount wa^ on the nest, a bolt of lightning struck the tree, 



of the occurrence has been pub- 

 lished in the more prominent 

 ornithological magazines. 



Throughout the entire eastern 

 portion of Monmouth County, 

 New Jersey, the huge nest of the 

 Osprey is a familiar and con- 

 spicuous feature of the land- 

 scape. By reason of the almost 

 superstitious regard in which 

 this bird is held, its breeding 

 place is rarely disturbed, and as 

 a consequence the species has 

 become very unsuspicious, often 

 nesting in close pro.ximity to the 

 dwellings of man. In fact, the 

 top of a chimney is occasionally 

 utilized for this purpose, though 

 this is by no means a common 

 occurrence. 



A I..UKIOU.S SITE FOR A KINGBIKH s NEST. 



killing the bird and demolishing 

 the nest. Strangely enough, the 

 other osprey when returning on- 

 ly to find his home desolated, 

 took up his station upon the top 

 of one of the uninjured trees 

 close at hand, and throughout 

 the remainder of the summer 

 was seen day after day, month 

 after month, keeping his lonely 

 vigil, apparently mourning the 

 loss of his mate. By those who 

 lived in the vicinity it was as- 

 serted that he was never missing 

 from his post ; and many were 

 the speculations indulged with 

 regard to the manner of his sub- 

 sistence. Some inclined to the 

 opinion that he went fishing very 

 early in the morning and so es- 



In the summer of 1879, there was an osprey's nest caped observation; while others supposed him to have 



on the wide chimney of an old-fashioned house that been fed by other fishhawks who took pity on his 



stood along the road leading from Little Silver to lonely state. Perhaps both were true, but the former 



Seabright. The chimney was finally desired for use, seems more probable. 



so the nest, then containing young, was removed to a He remained until late in September, but at the 



neighboring tree. The parent birds, however, not in time the other ospreys departed he too disappeared, 



the least disconcerted by the change, thereafter con- The next spring, however, found him again at his post, 



tinued to manage their domestic affairs as though and throughout the whole summer he continued just 



nothing had happened. as before ; but in the ensuing autumn, joining the 



But to return from this digression. Near Little company of his fellow ospreys in their journey to 



Silver, in an open hillside field which slopes gently the southland, he departed, this time to return no 



down to the highway, there stood in the early sum- more. 



A CURIOUS SITE FOR A KINGBIRD'S NEST. 



REGINALD HEBER HOWE, JR., BOSTON, MASS. 



WHILE rowing in Meadowbrook Pond in forest protruding from the waters of the pond. I 



Hubbardston, Mass., on July 15, 1897, I wondered how the young birds would ever reach 



found a Kingbird's {Tyianuits /vr<niiiiis) terra firma on their first flight: but on August 3, 



nest containing three eggs (see photograph ) in a dead when only two of them had hatched the entire family 



crotch of a small cedar ( ?) tree about a foot above and nest disappeared. I have often found Kingbirds 



the water and fully seventy-five feet from shore. nesting on some overhanging limb above a pond or 



The parents hovered about scolding or perched on brook, but never in such a curious, dangerous and 



the other dead trees of which there was a miniature light house-like situation as this. 



