60 BRITISH BIRDS. 
that the same situation is resorted to for many years in succession, the 
branches which support it are not unfrequently distorted in growth and 
flattened. In other cases the Osprey has several favourite eyries in one 
chosen locality, and appears to utilize them in turn, like the White-tailed 
Eagle or the Peregrine. As a rule the largest tree in the forest, the 
patriarch of the timber, is selected to hold the nest, which is built at 
varying heights from the ground, sometimes on the topmost branches, 
flattened by its weight, more rarely at a distance of ten or fifteen feet 
from the ground, on one of the broad spreading limbs. But when the 
Osprey’s nest is on ruins it is often at a far greater elevation ; and when 
built on rocky islets it is not unfrequently but a few feet from the ground, 
built amongst the grey lichens and tufts of polypody fern. Although the 
Osprey is in most places such a very rare bird, a journey of thirty-six hours 
from London will bring us to a locality where it is found in very great 
numbers. On the southern shores of the Baltic, north of Stettien, surround- 
ing the inland lakes which form the delta of the Oder, are vast forests which 
form a perfect paradise for the Osprey. Lonely forests within easy access 
of freshwater lakes are the favourite breeding-places of this bird. He 
generally selects the loftiest tree in the forest, his main object being ap- 
parently to be able to rise at once from the nest without being incommoded 
by the branches of trees; thus it often happens that the nest is visible at 
the distance of a mile. The structure is enormously large, from three to 
four feet in diameter, and occasionally as high, and is generally placed 
upon the summit of a pine tree, one having a dead top being preferred. 
At the outside it extends so far over the branches that it is often very 
difficult to reach. The foundation is made of branches intermixed with 
decaying vegetable matter and sods ; the upper surface is flat, and consists 
of finer twigs covered over with green and dry grass, the eggs being laid 
in a slight hollow in the middle, not more than a foot across, and scarcely 
two inches deep. Three eggs are the usual number, occasionally two, and 
still more rarely four. The most favourite place of all is on an island 
covered over with timber in the middle of a lake on which there are no 
boats. In a locality of this kind in Pomerania a number of Ospreys 
formed a colony, in one case two nests being on the same tree; and the 
Osprey has been known to build upon the top of a tree in which was 
the nest of a Black Stork. The Osprey is a shy bird at the nest, and 
usually leaves it at once on the approach of a stranger. ‘The birds are in 
the habit of roosting on the nest before any eggs are laid. 
By the latter end of April or the first week in May the Osprey’s eggs 
are deposited. They vary considerably in colour. ‘Typical specimens are 
white or yellowish white in ground-colour, irregularly and very boldly 
blotched and spotted with rich reddish brown, which becomes more dense and 
thickly dispersed over the larger end, sometimes so much as to hide all 
