OSPREY. 



catches fisli for her, and brings the food to the nest : she 

 therefore seldom quits the eggs, and then only for a very 

 short interval. The parent birds feed the young till they 

 are in the full possession of powers to provide for themselves, 

 and have been seen to supply them with fish long after they 

 had left the nest, and both were flying about on the wing 

 together. The old birds rear but one brood in the year. 



Specimens of this bird have been obtained in Sussex, and 

 in almost every other county on our north-east coast : at 

 Hartlepool, Mr. Selby states that one was frequently ob- 

 served perched on the hull of a vessel that had been wrecked. 

 Two or three specimens have been killed in Durham ; and 

 they are said to be observed on the north-west coast of Scot- 

 land rather more frequently than elsewhere. Sir William 

 Jardine, in his notes to his edition of Wilson"'s Birds of 

 America, says, that in Scotland " a pair or two may be 

 found about most of the Highland lochs, where they fish, 

 and, during the breeding season, build on the ruined towers 

 so common on the edges or insulated rocks of these wild 

 waters. The nest is an immense fabric of rotten sticks — 



" Itself a burden for the tallest tree," 

 and is generally placed, if such exists, on the top of the 

 chimney ; and if this be wanting, on the highest summit of 

 the building. An aged tree may sometimes be chosen ; but 

 ruins are always preferred, if near. They have the same 

 propensity of returning to an old station with those of Ame- 

 rica ; and if one is shot, a mate is soon found, and brought 

 to the ancient abode. Loch Lomond, Loch Awe, and Kill- 

 churn Castle, and Loch Menteith, have long been breeding- 

 places." 



On our southern coast, a specimen was shot in August 

 18S6, in Christchurch Bay, where this bird is called the 

 Mullet Hawk, — a local name for the knowledge of which I 



