194 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 



female is brown above, and buffy-white below. The four 

 or five eggs are pale bluish white, sometimes spotted with 

 reddish brown. 



THE OSPREY 



(Pandion haliaetus). 



The Osprey has already been alluded to. There are 

 traditions of its having nested in England, but none in 

 Ireland. In Scotland it was formerly not uncommon ; but 

 it now trembles on the verge of extinction. As a 

 migrant it occurs rather more nimierously on the various 

 coasts of the British Isles. As already mentioned, the 

 'Fish-Hawk' is foimd in North America — in fact, it is 

 almost cosmopolitan — and in parts it is abundant, and 

 nests in large colonies. The species differs from all other 

 Birds-of-Prey in having reversible outer toes, probably 

 an advantage for fish - catching and carrying. While 

 being carried, the fish is held pointing in the same 

 direction as the bird is flying, not transversely. The 

 large nest of sticks may be in a tree, or on a ruin or a 

 rock. The two or three eggs are white or huffish white 

 in ground-colour, beautifully blotched with some rich 

 reddish shade, and with indistinct purplish under-markings. 



The name ' Osprey ' (or ' Ospray"*) appears to be a cornip- 

 tion of ' ossifrage ' (' bone-breaker '), a title rightly belong- 

 ing to the Lammergeyer, or Bearded Vulture, and quite 

 inappropriate for this bird. The word ' osprey ' of the 

 plume-trade, on the other hand, is perhaps a corruption 

 of the French esprit, and is given to the feathers of the 

 Egret, a bird of the Heron family, and totally imcon- 

 nected with the species just described. 



