FALCONID.E. 



strength, curvature, and sharpness of its claws, and the 

 roughness of the soles of its feet, are peculiarities of struc- 

 ture adapted to the better securing its slippery prey ; and 

 the shortness of its thigh-feathers, unusual in the Falcon 

 tribe, is also evidently connected with its fishing habits.*" 

 A specimen at the Gardens of the Zoological Society of 

 London, when a fish was given to it, was observed to seize it 

 across the body, placing the inner and outer toes at right 

 angles with the middle and hind toes, and digging in the 

 claws, held the fish most firmly by four opposite points ; not 

 relaxing its hold or altering the position of the toes, but 

 picking out the portions of flesh from between them with 

 great ease and dexterity. 



From the docility observable in the Osprey, Montagu 

 thought that it might formerly have been trained for hawk- 

 ing of fish, as by an act passed in the reign of William and 

 Mary, persons were prohibited at a certain period of the year, 

 from taking any salmon, salmon-peal, or salmon kind, by 

 Hawks, racks, guns, &c. In the Complete Angler of honest 

 Isaac Walton, during the introductory conversation of Pis- 

 cator, Venator, and Auceps, on the pleasures of their parti- 

 cular pursuits, Auceps the Falconer includes the Bald 

 Buzzard in his enumeration of the different species of Hawks 

 that were used. 



The Osprey makes a large nest, sometimes on high trees, 

 at others on rocks, or about old ruins near large pieces of 

 water, and lays two or three eggs, which are generally 

 hatched in June. The eggs are about two inches and four 

 lines long by one inch ten lines in breadth, blotched and 

 spotted over the larger end with reddish brown on a white 

 ground. In some specimens the secondary colour is of q, 

 paler yellowish red. During the period of incubation, the 

 male watches near, and supplies the wants of the female ; 



