THE OSPREY. 35 
mined to settle. She reaches forward with her feet, 
checks with her broad wings the momentum of her flight, 
(Plate 24) and settles. For an instant there is the usual 
pleasing glimpse of the barred under-surface of the wings, 
before they are folded to her sides (Plate 25a). Immedi- 
ately the chick, which has been gasping in the noon-day 
heat, seeks the cooling shelter of his mother’s breast 
(Plate 25+). He wriggles his way under her, until his 
head is thrust even between her thighs, and then at last 
both birds are content. 
More than once, for photographic purposes, I was 
compelled to scare the mother into flight ; but once she 
had learned there was nothing seriously to fear in the tent, 
it was completely ignored in her haste to be once more 
beside her baby. And when my last plate was used, I 
stood and gazed in admiration on the example of heroic 
maternal devotion before me. It is doubtless common 
enough in the bird-world, but I can testify that to stand 
within twelve feet of a truly wild creature, whose majesty 
is second only to that of the Eagle, and see her shield her 
chick with all the tenderness and solicitude of a barn-yard 
fowl, arouses within me a thrill of satisfaction such as few 
ornithological experiences are capable of doing. 
On very hot days I have observed Ospreys skim close 
over the water, trailing their legs, their tail, and the tips of 
their wings on the surface. The owners of the beach 
nests especially love to make short sallies over the cooling 
element so close at hand. Upon returning to their nests, 
a few drops of moisture will occasionally fall upon the 
young; but I can hardly credit the assertion, that 
the bird deliberately cools the contents of the nest by 
“sprinkling.”* Similarly, I have sincere doubts whether 
the “grateful shade” over the young,t of the parent’s 
outstretched wings, is not more accidental than intentional. 
The Osprey when uncomfortably hot commonly allows 
* Kearton, ‘‘ With Nature and a Camera,” p. 194. 
+ cf. ‘‘ British Birds” (Mag.), I., 1907, p. 40. 
