464) PANDION HALIAETUS. 



My esteemed friend, Mr G. H. Greenhow, of Tyne- 

 mouth, in a letter dated 27th October 1835, mentions 

 the following circumstances relative to the osprey : — 

 " On my return home in August, I heard that four 

 ospreys had been shot in April and May, within three 

 or four miles of this place. My informant had himself 

 seen tlu*ee of them, and could not well be mistaken, as 

 he examined one with me three or four years ago. 

 About ten days ago, a fifth osprey was shot at some 

 little distance along the coast, and lived several days in 

 captivity." 



Mr Yarrell also has favoured me with the following 

 remarks : — " Some years ago, I had an opportunity of 

 examining the inside of the osprey. The parietes of 

 the stomach were very thin ; the intestinal canal mea- 

 sured 10 feet 8 inches in length, and in some parts 

 scarcely exceeded a crow quill in size. The length of 

 tlie intestine in this bird, compared to the length of the 

 bird itself, was as 8 to 1. In the falcons generally, the 

 length of the intestine to the bird is but as 3 to 1. I 

 inferred at the time, from the great length of intestine 

 in the otter and seal, that the small quantity of nutri- 

 ment which fish, as an article of food, is known to af- 

 ford, rendered this extent of canal necessary, in order 

 that every portion of the nutriment might be extracted. 

 Some of the fish-eating water birds (Colymbus), have, 

 however, a short intestinal canal, of large calibre, but 

 they can catch fish much more readily than the osprey. 

 and can therefore fill their stomach oftener. 



