( 40 ) 

 A STUDY OF THE HOME LIFE OF THE OSPREY. 



BY 

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



Part II. 



{Continued from page 22.) 

 By means of an umbrella enveloped in green cloth, my 

 companion, Mr. C. G. Abbott, was enabled to study 

 the home life of this noble bird at a distance of some 

 twelve feet. It took, however, two of us to deceive 

 completely the anxious parent. One would fasten the 

 other into the structure we politely termed a tent, and 

 then walk ostentatiously away. Having once discovered 

 that danger lurked inside the tent, the bird would refuse 

 to return for the rest of the day, and it was useless to 

 persevere. 



A much more rapid and certain way of obtaining 

 photographs was to lie partly concealed and watch, at a 

 short range, through field glasses. Then, so familiar were 

 they with the sight of man, that the Osprej's would 

 return to their nests when we were hardly a hundred 

 yards away. When the heat on the beach became un- 

 bearable we would retire into the sea, and from that cool 

 resort were enabled to pull the string attached to the 

 camera, and so take many of our best photographs. 



Often would we observe the old bird, also evidently 

 overcome by the heat, flap out to sea and dangle her legs 

 and tail, and sometimes the tij)s of her wings, in the 

 water, then, returning, she would spread this cool and 

 grateful shade over her young. We could not, however, 

 obtain any trustworthy evidence that water was 

 "sprinkled " over the young. 



On our approach to the nest the birds would evince 

 great nervousness and would ascend and hover high over 

 our heads, uttering a note like "killy, killy, killy," at the 

 same time flapping their wings and dangling their legs in 

 characteristic fashion. On no occasion were they at all 



