130 THE HAWKS AND OWLS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



OSPREY. 



Pandion haliaetus carolinensis. 



[Plate 18— Adult.] 



The Fish Hawk or American Osprey inhabits tropical and temi^erate 

 America, ranging north to Labrador, Hudson Bay, and Alaska. It 

 winters commonly in the southern United States, and in this region it 

 breeds regularly in suitable localities north to the limit of its range. It 

 arrives in southern New York in the latter part of March, and in Lab- 

 rador and the north during the first week in May. The typical species, 

 from which the American bird is scarcely separable, inhabits the whole 

 of Europe, Africa, and northern Asia as far south as India and China. 



The food of the Osprey consists entirely of fish which it captures, 

 although in rare cases, when hard pressed, it has been known to pick 

 up dead ones from the surface of the water. From the nature of its 

 food, it must of necessity dwell near bodies of water of more or less 

 extent, which are inhabited by an abundance of fish, especially such 

 species as habitually swim in schools near the surface. In some locali- 

 ties, where there are extensive stretches of shallow water inhabited 

 by an abundance of fish, the Fish Hawk often occurs in colonies of 

 several hundred individuals, while in less favorable localities, a pair or 

 so only are found. 



The writer had exceptionally good oi)portunities in the lower Hudson 

 Valley, ISTew York, to study the bird while procuring its food, and in no 

 instance was it observed to capture any fish except menhaden, herring, 

 goldfish, or sunfish. When preparing to capture a fish this Hawk 

 descends with great velocity at an acute angle, striking the water 

 breast first, often disappearing under the surface in a mass of foam. 

 The writer knows of one instance where an individual in striking at a 

 fish in Croton Lake, Kew York, broke its wing. The persons observing 

 its descent, wondering w^hy it did not fly away, rowed up and discov- 

 ered its condition. 



The season as well as the locality has considerable to do with the 

 kind of fish caught by the Osprey. It has been known to capture 

 shad, catfish, perch, trout, etc. Wilson speaks of a shad a Fish Hawk 

 captured and had partly eaten, which in that condition weighed six 

 pounds. Nuttall states that fish weighing six to eight pounds are 

 sometimes taken by the Ovsprey. 



It has been said that the Fish Hawk will occasionally strike a large 

 fish like a bass or sturgeon and, being unable to loosen its hold, is car- 

 ried under and drowned. Large fish with dead Fish Hawks attached 

 have been cast up by the waves on the beach. Although the Osprey 

 feeds exclusively on fish, which in any form are of more or less value 

 to mart; with few excexitions, it feeds upon such species as are of the 



