PANDION HALLETUS. 89 



ashamed that another victim has escaped. He then sails low 

 over the surface, and by a zig-zag descent, without seeming to 

 dip his feet in the water, seizes a fish, which, after carrying to 

 a short distance, he probably drops or yields up to the bald eagle, 

 and again ascends by easy spiral circles to the higher regions of 

 air, where he glides about in all the ease and majesty of his 

 species. At once from this serial height he descends like a 

 perpendicular torrent, plunging into the sea with a loud rushing 

 sound, and with the certainty of a rifle bullet. In a few 

 moments he emerges, bearing in his claws his struggling prey, 

 which he always carries head foremost, and having risen a few 

 feet above the surface, shakes himself like a water-dog, and 

 steers his heavy and laborious course directly for the land. If 

 the wind blows hard and his nest to windward, it is amusing to 

 see with what judgment and exertion he beats to windward — 

 not in a direct line — in the wind's eye, but by several tacks to 

 gain his end, which is the more striking when we consider the 

 size of the fish he sometimes bears along. The remains of a 

 shad taken from a fish-hawk, on which he had begun to feed, 

 and ate a considerable, portion of, weighed 6 lbs. Another was 

 passing at the same place with a large flounder in his grasp, 

 which struggled and shook him so that he dropt it on the shore. 

 Yet the weight of the osprey is only 4 or 5 lbs. Montague 

 says the osprey flies heavily — not unlike the common buzzard — 

 but often glides slowly along with motionless wings. When 

 searching for prey its wings are in constant motion, although 

 the bird itself remains stationary for a considerable time. Its 

 greater size perhaps renders it difficult to continue suspended 

 with the imperceptible motion of the wings of the kestrel. 

 When crossing the bridge over the river Avon he saw an 

 osprey hawking for fish ; its attention was arrested, and, like the 

 kestrel in search of mice or a beetle, it became stationary. 

 After a pause it descended to within fifty feet of the water and 

 continued hovering, then precipitated itself into the water with 

 such great celerity as to be nearly immersed. In a few seconds 

 it rose, without any difficulty, with a trout of moderate size ; 

 but instead of alighting to feed on its prey it soared to a great 

 height and did not descend within his view. From this we can 

 fancy we see the osprey hovering above a fish in the water 

 when we see the kestrel hovering above a mouse on land — the 

 counterpart of its larger fellow-hunter— the one scanning the 

 water, the other the fields, impelled by the inexorable first law 

 of Nature. But, like our eagles, the interesting fish hawk is 



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