THE FISH-HAWK. 55 
usually placed imu the fork of a large dead tree, and is 
occupied by the same pair of birds for successive years. I 
am informed, that a pair of these birds have, for a number 
of years past, made their eyrie on a shelf of an inaccessible 
cliff on the side of what is called “Diamond Mountain,” a 
few miles south of the Umbagog lakes. Mr. J. A. Allen 
(Catalogue of Birds of Springfield, Mass., in “‘ Proceedings 
of Essex Institute,” vol. IV., No. 2) says that this species 
“sometimes breeds on Mount Tom, about twenty miles 
north of Springfield, Mass.” These are probably, how- 
ever, exceptional cases. The nest is constructed of large 
sticks, twigs, branches of seaweeds, turf, and moss: some 
of these sticks are nearly or quite an inch in thickness. It 
is a bulky affair; its diameter often being five feet, and its 
thickness from two to three feet. It is not much hollowed, 
and is nearly level across the top. Of numbers of eggs of 
this bird, that I have examined, I could see no material 
difference as to shape or color; the form being nearly 
spherical, and the color a dirty yellowish-white. Length 
of specimens varies from 2.93 to 8.07 inches; breadth, 
from 2.31 to 2.47 inches. 
PANDION, Savieny. 
Pandion, SaAvieny, Hist. Nat. d’Egypt, I. 95 (1809). 
Wings very long; general form heavy, and not adapted to vigorous or swift 
flight like the preceding eagles; bill short, curved from the base, compressed; tarsi 
thick and strong, and covered with small circular scales; claws large, curved, very 
sharp; toes beneath rough; tail moderate or rather short. 
This genus contains three or four species only, nearly allied to each other, and 
inhabiting all temperate regions of the world. 
PANDION CAROLINENSIS. — Bonaparte. 
The Fish-hawk. Osprey. 
Falco Carolinensis, Gm. Syst. Nat., I. 263 (1788). 
Aquila piscatrix, Vieillot. Ois. d’Am. Sept., I. 29 (1807). 
Pandion Americanus, Vieillot. Gal. Ois., I. 83 (1825). 
Falco halietus, Linneeus. Wilson, Am. Orn., V. 14. 
Falco halietus, Linneus. Aud. Orn. Biog., I. 415. 
