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 
