THE OSPREY. 23 
So firmly are the Osprey’s claws imbedded in a fish he 
has struck, that he is sometimes unable to extricate them 
when he desires. Many instances are on record* of the 
bird being dragged under water and drowned by a fish 
whose strength was greater than his own. Mr. Cleaves 
once saw an Osprey struggle for some seconds with a fish 
that was apparently almost the bird’s equal. The Osprey 
became so exhausted that he simply allowed his wings 
to rest on the surface of the water, with his tail completely 
submerged ; but finally he got the best of the fish (believed 
to have been a German Carp) and very laboriously cleared 
the surface of the water, and flew to a dead tree at the edge 
of the pond. 
I have never been fortunate enough to witness the oft- 
described battle between a Bald Eagle and an Osprey, 
when the former intercepts the successful fisher and harasses 
him until he is compelled to drop his hard-gained prey. 
Nevertheless, this common method of obtaining a meal 
on the part of the lazy Eagle offers proof that the Osprey 
is, under these circumstances at least, amply able to release 
at will his hold upon a fish. In fact instances of the bird’s 
drowning are all the more surprising in view of the readiness 
with which the bird will drop its prey when on the wing. 
A shot, a well-directed stone, or even a clap of the hands 
will often have this effect. In other cases the bird will 
release its grip from sheer anxiety on behalf of its nest ; 
and still again from no apparent cause whatsoever. When 
a fish is accidentally dropped from a perch or over the edge 
of a nest, the Osprey, beyond a little craning of the neck in 
the direction the food fell, makes no attempt to recover the 
lost booty. Dried fish and eels caught in the sticks on the 
sides of nests perhaps indicate that here has been a catastrophe 
with which Nature has not fitted the Osprey to cope. 
The first part of. the fish to be disposed of seems invariably 
to be the head. This must often be torn off shortly after 
* cf. Naumann, ‘‘Birds of Middle Europe” (ed. 1905), V., p. 161; and Dresser, 
‘* Birds of Europe,” VI., p. 146, 
