188 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Mr. Allen reports this species as abundant everywhere in Florida, and as 

 especially so around the lakes of the Upper St. Johns, where it commences 

 nesting in January. At Lake Monroe he counted six nests from a single 

 point of view. It is said by iisliermen to occur on the coast of Labrador, 

 but it is not cited as found there by Mr. Audubon, nor is it so given by Dr. 

 Coues. It is, however, very common on the coast of Nova Scotia, breeding 

 in the vicinity of most of the liarbors. It is given by Mr. Boardman as 

 common near Calais, where it arrives about the lOtli of April, and remains 

 until the middle of September. It is found along the whole coast more or 

 less abundantly, especially near the heads of tlie numerous estuaries. 



In Central America it is cited by Salvin as occurring abundantly on both 

 the coast regions, and is particularly common about Belize, where it is be- 

 lieved to breed. It is said by Mr. Newton to be found on the island of St. 

 Croix at all times except during the breeding-season. It was also occa- 

 sionally seen at Trinidad by Mr. E. C. Taylor. 



The Fish Hawk appears to subsist wholly on the fish which it takes by 

 its own active exertions, plunging for them in the open deep, or catching 

 them in the shallows of rivers where the depth does not permit a plunge. 

 Its abundance is measured somewhat by its supply of food ; and in some 

 parts of the country it is hardly found, in others it appears in solitary pairs, 

 and again in a few districts it is quite gregarious. 



The American Fish Hawk is migratory in its habits, leaving our coasts 

 early in the fall of the year, and returning soon after the close of the winter. 

 Sir John Richardson states tliat the time of its arrival in the fur regions is 

 as early as April, and on the coast it has been noticed in the middle of 

 March. It breeds on the coast of Nova Scotia late in June, on that of 

 JNIaine earlier in the same month, in New Jersey and Maryland in May, and 

 still earlier in California. 



It is said to arrive on the New Jersey coast with great regularity about 

 the 21st of March, and to be rarely seen there after the 22d of September. 

 It not unfrequently finds, on its first arrival, the ponds, bays, and estuaries 

 ice-bound, and experiences some difficulty in procuring food. Yet I can find 

 no instance on record where our Fish Hawk has been known to molest any 

 other bird or land-animal, to feed on them, though their swiftness of flight, 

 and their strength of wing and claws, would seem to render such attacks 

 quite easy. On their arrival the Fish Hawks are said to combine, and to 

 wage a determined war upon the White-headed Eagles, often succeeding by 

 their numbers and courage in driving them temporarily from their haunts. 

 But they never attack them singly. 



The Fish Hawk nests almost invariably on tlie tops of trees, and this 

 habit has been noticed in all parts of the country. It is not without excep- 

 tions, but these are quite rare. William H. Edwards, Esq., found one of 

 their nests constructed near West Point, New York, on a high cliff overhang- 

 ing the Hudson Eiver. The trees on which their nests are built are not un- 



