154 THE OSPREY 



to tell the truth, he is always ready to save himself the trouble of a 

 chase, if he can meet with the carcase of a sheep or lamb ; but the 

 White-tailed Eagle feeds principally on fish, water-fowl, the smaller 

 quadrupeds, and offal, whether of quadrupeds, birds, or fish. On 

 such fare, when pressed by hunger, he feeds so greedily that he 

 gorges himself till, unable to rise, he becomes the easy prey of the 

 shepherd's boy armed but with a stick or stone. The Eagle is 

 sometimes seen on the southern sea-board of England in autumn 

 and winter when the younger birds that have been reared in the 

 north of Europe are migrating south ; but its eyries are now only 

 on the west and north coasts, and especially the Shetland Islands. 

 It inhabits Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Scotland, and the 

 north of England, where it frequents the vicinity of the sea and 

 large lakes. In winter it appears to leave the high latitudes and 

 come farther south, not perhaps so much on account of cold as 

 because its ordinary prey, being driven to seek a genial climate, 

 it is compelled to accompany its food. Consequently it is more 

 abundant in Scotland during winter than summer, and when seen 

 late in autumn is generally observed to be flying south, in early 

 spring northwards. It builds its nest either in forests, choosing 

 the summit of the loftiest trees, or among inaccessible cliffs over- 

 hanging the sea. The materials are sticks, heath, tufts of grass, 

 dry sea-weed, and it lays two eggs. The young are very voracious, 

 and are fed by the parent birds for some time after they have 

 left the nest, but when able to provide for themselves are driven 

 from the neighbourhood to seek food and a home elsewhere. 



THE OSPREY 



PANDION HALIAETUS 



Wings longer than the tail ; feathers of the head and neck white, with dark 

 centres ; on each side of the neck a streak of blackish brown, extending 

 downwards ; upper plumage generaUy deep brown ; under white, tinged 

 here and there with yellow, and on the breast marked with arrow-shaped 

 spots ; tail-feathers barred with dusky bands ; cere and beak dark grey ; 

 iris yellow. Length two feet ; breadth five feet. Eggs reddish white, 

 blotched and spotted with dark reddish brown. 



' Endowed with intense keenness of sight, it hovers high in the 

 air, and having descried a fish in the sea, it darts down with great 

 rapidity, dashes aside the water with its body, and seizes its prey 

 in an instant.' So says the ancient naturalist Pliny, describing a 

 bird which he calls Haliac/iis, or Sea Eagle. Eighteen centuries 

 later, Montagu thus described a bird, which, when he first observed 



