42 



THE OSPREY. 



out and the bird is often soiled with grease. 

 They have a rank, pung-ent smell, which is ex- 

 ceedingly disagreeable. Notwithstanding its 

 boldness when in pursuit of food, and its ai)par- 

 ent indifference to the presence of man, fre- 

 quently coming within a few feet of the side of 

 a boat or vessel, rivaling in this respect the 

 most daring feats of the hagdon, it is, neverthe- 

 less, entirely different from the latter so far as 

 its pugnacity is concerned. Although it may 

 struggle to get the food which another bird is 

 trying to swallow, it does not exhibit such a 

 tierce disposition as the hag, and when caught 

 rarely attempts to bite. This is all the more 

 strange since this bird has a sharp and very 

 powerful hooked beak. Its flight is similar to 

 that of /'/(///;/ //.v, and its manner of alig^hting on 



the water when in pursuit of food is also much 

 the same. The noddy, however, as has been 

 mentioned, rarely dives for food, and, so far as 

 I have observed, goes but a short distance 

 beneath the water, evincing, in this respect, far 

 less activity and enterprise than the hagdon It 

 is never eaten by the fishermen; its disagreeable, 

 repulsive odor rendering it undesirable as food. 

 It may be added here that Capt. Henry O. 

 Smith, of Salem, Mass., tells me that the fulmar 

 frequently occurs in considerable abundance in 

 winter in Fortune Bay, Newfoundland, and he 

 also says that on one occasion he killed one of 

 these i)irds in that region, which had a half- 

 swallowed herring in its beak, the fish being too 

 larye for the noddy to get down. 



NEST OF DUCK HAWKS IN NEW JERSEY. 

 By Wm. p. Lemmon, Englewood, N. J. 



On April 8th, I found a nest of Duck Hawks 

 (Falco p. anafiiiu) on the Palisades about two 

 miles above Englewood, N. J. It was placed on 

 s\ small ledge of rock some 75 feet from the top, 

 and the same distance from the bottom. The 

 top of the cliff is about 200 or 250 feet above the 

 Hudson River, but the perpendicular rock is only 

 about one-half of this, the rest being broken 

 away at an angle of 45 degrees. 



There were four eggs in the nest then, and in- 

 cubation had just begun. On the 12th, a friend 

 and I went up to the spot at daylight, armed with 

 guns, camera, and a long rope. The female was 

 on the nest when we got there, but left at once 

 uttering the discordant cry of "Ca-a-a, ca, ca, 

 ca, ca, ca, ca. ca", which was kept up at inter- 

 vals, as long as we were there. The male soon 

 appeared on the scene, and the pair circled 

 around over the river, now and then making a 

 dash for the cliflf, only to turn when just out of 

 reach of our guns. We lay out on a point wait- 

 ing for a shot until, after one or two attempts, 

 we decided that the birds could not be procured 

 in that way. We then walked away about 100 

 yards, and waited about fifteen minutes until 

 the female returned to the nest, when I crept up 

 to get a shot at her. But just as I raised my 

 head above the edge, she saw me and dashed 

 away out over the river. 



I then built a blind of cedar boughs, and re- 

 peated the trick, with the same result. After 



two more failures, I came to the conclusion that 

 the only way to get a shot, was to remain in a 

 position to shoot as soon as the bird should re- 

 turn to the nest. This I accordingly' did and 

 after patiently awaiting for ten minutes, with 

 my gun to my shoulder. I had the satisfaction 

 of dropping the bird to the foot of the clifts. 



The rope then came into play, and having 

 fastened one end to a tree, I threw the other 

 over the edge and went down hand-over-hand. 

 At the bottom I foimd my bird, wounded but 

 not dead, as I found to my sorrow; for before I 

 killed it, it succeeded in tearing my trousers 

 and lacerating my thumb. The male was not 

 procured. 



Not being- able to get to the nest on that day, 

 we came home, but on the 23rd, returned with a 

 roller to place on the edge of the cliff, a rope, 

 and last but not least, four companions. 



The nest was duly reached, and by swinging 

 out from the cliff, and holding- myself there with 

 my feet, I made four exposures of the nest, and 

 got three good ones. The rope was hauled up 

 and my brother was lowered from a point a few 

 yards away, whence he made a photo. After I 

 was pulled up, my brother went down and made 

 three exposures, all of which were good. 



The date on which the nest was found, April 

 8th, is the earliest on record for this vicinity. 



