17 



A STUDY OF THE HOME LIFE OF THE OSPREY. 



BY 

 P. H. BAHE, B.A., M.B.O.U. 



It is perhaps fitting* that the first number of British 

 Birds should contain an account of a bird which, as a 

 breeding species in these islands, is reduced to a solitary 

 pair or so. Of such is the heritage of the modern 

 ornithologist ! What trap and gun have not attained, the 

 collector's zeal has accomplished. 



In America, however, where the accompanying j)hoto- 

 graphs were obtained, the Osprey is looked upon, not as a 

 marauder and a robber, but as a welcome guest. All 

 through the Northern States this species is found breeding 

 in colonies. In the state of New Jersey Ospreys are 

 protected by law to such an extent that they flourish 

 exceedingly. Here there are no mistaken ideas about the 

 preservation of trout, and the Fish Hawk, as the bird is 

 popularly called, is ungrudgingly allowed to take his toll 

 from the seas. Though there is no essential difference 

 between the New World species and our own, yet our 

 American cousins have dubbed it P. haliaetus carolinensis. 



The colony I visited in July, 1903, is situated on an 

 island not a hundred miles from New York City. Though 

 perhaps there is far more romance in watching a pair 

 tending their young on some solitary Highland loch, as 

 so beautifully described in St. John's " Tour in Suther- 

 land," yet to see some 800 pairs of these lovely birds 

 congregating in one spot to breed is an awe-inspiring- 

 sight. Our island was some seven miles in length, yet 

 all the nests were crowded into an area some two and a 

 half miles long at the southern end. 



There were nests to be seen placed in every available 

 situation, some on the top of withered maples, some in 

 the thick vines and creepers that clung round their stems, 

 while others (so favourably have the birds been protected) 



