132 BIRDS OF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS. 



specimens ; under parts, white, sometimes streaked with light brown, 

 especially on the breast ; feet very large, bluish. 



Length 22, wing 18.50, tail 9, tarsus 2.40, bill 1.40. 



This species is an abundant resident ; we met with it on all of 

 the larger islands. While at Clarence Harbor, Long Island, a fine 

 adult Hawk came regularly every evening and perched himself upon 

 the top of the mainmast, where he would sit quietly, slightly moving 

 his partly closed wings to balance himself as the vessel rolled. Dr. 

 Bryant, writing of this species, says, " Fish Hawks were found 

 throughout the Bahamas, but nowhere so abundant as in parts of 

 the United States. The nests which I saw were placed in entirely^ 

 different situations from those chosen by this bird with us, resem- 

 bling more nearly in this respect the European species. They were 

 all built on the ground. Two that I examined at Water Key, 

 Ragged Islands, were placed on the edge of a cliff at an elevation 

 of about forty feet from the water, very bulky, at least five feet in 

 height and six in diameter, composed entirely of materials taken 

 from the neighboring beaches, principally the horny skeletons of 

 gorgonias, sponges, bits of drift-wood, and sea-weeds. They had 

 recently been repaired, and the cavities lined with fresh gulf-weed. 

 On the 20th of April, the date of my last visit to them, they con- 

 tained neither eggs nor young. The eggs in the ovary of a female 

 shot at this time were of the size of small peas. 



"The plumage of the specimen differed from any I ever saw in 

 the United States. The whole upper part of the head, nape, and 



