86 THE OSPREY, OR FISHING HAWK. 



quivering motion, like the kestrel over a mouse, or a bee or 

 humming-bird over a flower, watching the proper moment to 

 descend like a feathered thunderbolt — guided by an eye so 

 transcendently true as to strike with unerring certainty, while 

 its powerful muscles can check its expansive pinions exactly at 

 the proper time — like the newest patent brake on the railway — 

 so unlike the gannet or the tern, which close their wings when 

 plunging, head foremost, deep into the yielding sea : and to assist 

 the long wings in the sudden dash on the water the under part 

 of its body is clothed with close and dense plumage, like the 

 glossy velvet of the duck, while the upper parts retain the 

 kindred feathers of the eagle or the hawk. And as great 

 rapidity and power to execute sudden turnings are not necessary 

 for its mode of life, its tail (or rudder) is not nearly so long as 

 the other hawks, while its wings are much longer. How 

 different from the rapid evolutions of the long-tailed, short- 

 winged sparrow-hawk, which can glide amongst trees like a 

 flash of lightning, unscathed — the osprey's mission being to sail 

 through the air in search of food, or be able to hang poised on 

 it, and have the power to rush perpendicularly down upon it. 

 How different from the half-cowardly hesitation of Macbeth, 

 who, after purposing to murder Macduff, allowed him to escape, 

 which made him ruefully exclaim — 



" The flighty purpose never is o'ertook 

 Unless the deed go with it ; " 



an apt expression, for how often are opportunities lost and 

 things left undone by simply not doing them at once, which 

 just shows 



" That what we would do, we should when we would." 



The slippery nature of its prey, and its facility for sinking out 

 of reach, render a very powerful instrument of prehension 

 necessary. And how perfectly Nature has supplied this is seen 

 in the long and strong tibia, the short but very strong tarsus, 

 and equally muscular toes, shod with conical points for the 

 special purpose of helping it to grasp with the mobility of 

 universal joints, for the lateral toes can turn at right angles 

 to the first and third so as to ensure perfection in its clutch ; 

 and to certify this still more, the outer toes are considerably 

 longer than the others, to have more scope when clutching with 

 both feet, while the 1J inch long sharp-pointed claws complete 

 the perfection of this inimitable instrument of grasp — so nicely 

 formed as not only not to tear the soft flesh of the fish when 



