THE OSPKEY. 



41 



the object beneath. No sooner does it spy a fish 

 suited to it* taste, than it checks its course with 

 a sudden shake of its wing's and tail, which 

 gives it the appearance of being poised in the 

 air for a moment, after which it plunges head- 

 long with great rapidity into the water, to secure 

 its prey, or continue its flight, if disappointed 

 by having observed the fish sink deeper". 



( hi the ground the < >sprey is as ungainly as in 

 the air graceful. It seldom alights, '■and when 

 it does so. walks with difficulty, and in an ex- 

 tremely awkward manner. The only occasions 

 on which it is necessary for them to alight", 

 says Audubon, are '•when they collect materials 

 for the purpose of repairing their nest at the 

 approach of autumn, or for building a new one, 

 or repairing the old, in spring". 



MEAL TIMES. 



Naumann has attributed regular meal times to 

 the Osprey in Germany and specified a break- 

 fast at 8 to 9 and a "midday" mittags) or 

 early afternoon meal between 12 and 2, the bird 

 seldom fishing meantimes. No such regularity 

 has been noticed in the United States nor has 

 any approach to it been mentioned by American 

 authors. Nevertheless, as Naumann was a good 

 observer, attention should be directed to the 

 movements of the bird in order to ascertain 

 whether there is any basis of fact for the state- 

 ment. 



The food consists almost if not quite exclu- 

 sively of fishes, and these are always caught by 

 itself. Only under stress of great scarcity of 

 the normal diet would one be likely to take 

 anything else. The toes and claws — especially 

 the reversible outer toe which distinguishes 

 tt from all the other diurnal birds of prey- 

 admirably fit it for the capture of the objects 

 of its pursuit. The kind of fish or the size 

 matters little to it: the chief requisite is that 

 it shall approach near enough to the surface to 

 be pounced upon and that it be not too largi 

 be taken out of the water nor too small to be 

 grasped. The species will consequently vary 

 with the locality, season, and nature of the 

 water. Along the coasts, when the various 

 species of the herring- family- shad, alewives, 

 menhaden, etc. — approach the mouths of rivers 

 or advance into them, they are often the most 

 readily obtainable. When the shoals of mullets 

 seek the coast and invade the estuaries, there is 

 another opportunity offered for the feasts of the 

 Osprey. One of the very few English synonyms 

 has been sug-gested by its onslaught on the 

 mullets — Mullet-hawk. In the fresh waters, 

 when the salmonids and suckers crowd into the 

 smaller streams, they are the ones most likely 

 to fall prey to the bird. In Florida, according 

 to Major Bendire, "they live almost entirely on 

 catfish," The same authority believed that the 

 fish caught "are usually the inferior species, 

 such as are seldom used for the table." It is 



not at all likely, however, that it tastes are 

 so convenient to man. The bird is not a wife 

 to the universal Jack Sprat. The limitation id' 

 the species in Florida to catfish could only have 

 been for a time and under certain condition,. 

 But catfish often occur under such conditions, 

 frequently ascending to the surface of the 

 water to inspire atmospheric air, and are so 

 lethargic in their habits, that they are quite apt 

 to fall an easy prey to the bird. Professor 

 Bartsch, in a recent number of the OSPREY 

 (v, p. in remarks: "It may seem strange, but 

 every fish which I have seen the Osprey catch 

 about Washington, and have hi i n close enough 

 to determine has proved to lie cattish. I have 

 several times surprised the bird into dropping 

 his prey by approaching the spot where he was 

 enjoying his catch unobserved, and each time 

 found it to be a catfish." Tile bird of the 

 mountains and lakes often regales itself with 

 a trout or whitefish. 



The weak-fish of the eastern American coast, a 

 savory esculent sciaenid ot the g inns Cynoi 

 i ( '. regalis), is a fish which is specially connected 

 with the Osprey in some places. Audubon's 

 figure of the bird represents it flying off with 

 a weak-fish in its claws, and in one of his 

 episodes he declared that he inquired "if the 

 Fish-hawks were plentiful near Great Egg 

 Harbor, and was answered by an elderly man. 

 who with a laugh asked if [he] had ever seen 

 the 'Weak-fish' along the coast without the bird 

 in question." 



CAPTURE 111' FISH. 



The manner of grasping fi-h has been des- 

 ciibed bv Professor Newton. < >ne "in the 

 Gardens of the Zoological Societj of London. 

 when a fish was given to it. was observed to 

 seize it across the body, placing the inner and 

 outer toes at right angles with the middle and 

 hind toes, and. digging in the claws, held the 

 fish most firmly by four opposite points, not re- 

 laxing- its hold or altering the position of the 

 toes, bui picking out the portions of flesh from 

 between them with great dexterity." 



Whatever the fish taken, the bird treats it in 

 the same manner. "It is a curious fact." it has 

 been thought, that it "will never carry the fish 

 with the tail to the front." Wilson early ob- 

 served that the fish was always carried head 

 foremost. Mr. Charles S. Shick watched it 

 often in Cape May County. (N. J.,) where it is 

 very common, and ■■many limes" saw it "turn 

 the fish around in mid air" so as to carry it with 

 head advanced. It would be desirable to have 

 such a change of position "in mid air" con- 

 firmed bv others. Meves wrote to Dresser that, 

 in northern Russia he "saw an Osprey flying 

 from Lake Ladoga to a neighbouring wood with 

 a fish in his claws. It held the fish by its head, 

 .iwA the whole of the hinder part stuck up in the 

 air, higher than the bird's back, looking like a 

 Hag." 



Its mode of capture has been described by 

 Audubon. "When it plunges into the water, in 

 pursuit of a fish, it sometimes proceeds deep 

 enough to disappear for an instant. The surge 

 caused by its descent is so great as to make the 



