FALCONIDA. i 
which, where there is any difference from the adult, 
ave generally more marked; or from their having 
been shot unmediately after the autumnal moult, 
before the edges of the feathers had been worn 
down, which, as I shall hereafter have occasion to 
notice, makes a material difference in the appearance 
of many of our birds killed at that time. 
The food of the Osprey seems to consist almost 
entirely of fish: these it catches if they are near 
the surface by just dipping its feet in the water 
far enough to reach them, and at other times 
plunging entirely under the surface with force 
sufficient to throw up a considerable spray. But 
it emerges again so quickly from the water that it 
is evident it cannot attack fish swimming at any 
great depth.* It appears even to have been trained 
for taking fish. 
I'he nest is said to be an immense fabric of 
rotten sticks, intermixed with corn-stalks, sea-weed 
and wet turf: itis lined with dry sea-grass,} and is 
generally placed in some old ruin—Yarrell says, if 
possible, on the top of a chimney: if ruins are not 
to be found old trees are sometimes resorted to. 
Yarrell describes this bird as follows:—‘‘ The 
beak is black, the cere blue; the irides yellow; 
the top of the head and nape of the neck whitish, 
* Yarrell’s and Meyer's Britis) Birds. 
+ Hewitson. 
. B 3 
