Birds of Oregon and Washington 191 



THE AMERICAN OSPREY, OR FISH-HAWK. 



The Osprey is seen on both sides of the con- 

 tinent. On the Atlantic coast, especially in New- 

 England and upon Long Island, it has been the 

 one bird which the fisherman and farmers have 

 singularly respected and guarded. In my own 

 boyhood, a pair nested in a grove of large oaks 

 back of my home on an island not far from New 

 York City. It was believed that the same pair 

 had been there for two generations or more. 

 Whether an observation of scientific accuracy 

 would verify the current story, I do not know, 

 but these birds were said to arrive and depart 

 on certain fixed calendar days each year. It 

 was supposed that upon a certain day toward 

 the end of March they came back, from what 

 shores and seas I used to wonder and dream 

 about, but never knew. Their nest was built 

 in the top of an oak, and was made of sticks of 

 dead wood and seaweed. Some of the sticks 

 were of considerable size. Every year new ma- 

 terial was added to the former site, till the nest 

 became a huge mass against the sky. Mean- 



