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PANDION HALIAETUS. 



THE OSPREY. 



Male. — The Osprey, Fishing Eagle, or Fishing 

 Hawk, as it has been variously named, is remarkable 

 among the British birds of prey for the peculiar adapta- 

 tion for fishing evinced by the form of its claws, the 

 prominence of the thick conical scales of the lower sur- 

 face of its toes, the shortness of the plumage of its legs, 

 and the great length of its wings. 



It is unnecessary to repeat here what has been said 

 in the generic character, which will be understood to 

 apply entirely to the species in question, it being the 

 only one known to me as certainly belonging to the 

 genus Pandion ; but a few additional facts may be here 

 given without impropriety. The intestines, according 

 to Wilson, measm-ed, in an individual examined by him, 

 " within an inch or two of nine feet, and were no larger 

 than those of a robin," that is, of the migratory thrush. 

 The tarsus is feathered anteriorly about one-fourth 

 4^0 wn. The wings, being extremely elongated, and 

 especially having the cubitus proportionally long, have 

 thirty quills, whereas the White-tailed Eagle and the 

 Golden Eagle have only twenty-five ; and the tertiaries, 

 to the number of about ten, are as largely developed 

 and as strong as the secondaries. The first three quills 

 are deeply notched internally towards the end. When 

 closed, the wings, however, do not much exceed the 



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