THE OSPREY. 39 
his old perch. Such is an example of the unaccountable 
nervous variability of the Osprey, which one constantly 
meets in attempting to photograph this species. 
In spite of all I had learned during my visits to Gardiner’s 
Island, the important question of just how often the young 
Ospreys are fed still remained but vaguely answered. 
Largely with a view to obtaining some definite data on this 
point, I decided to encamp, on July 8th and gth, rogrt, 
for an entire twenty-four hours near a single Osprey’s nest. 
Naturally many observations beside those bearing on the 
feeding question were made; infact a somewhat detailed 
account of my intimate ‘‘ week-end ” visit to the home of 
the Ospreys may not be out of place. The locality selected 
for my operations was a region known as Atlantic Highlands, 
in New Jersey, where I had long known that Ospreys were 
abundant. The particular nest I sect forth to study was 
one described to me by a friend, who had seen it while 
motoring down the road alongside of which it is built. 
He had obtained some excellent photographs of the birds 
merely by stopping his machine and snapping his camera 
while in the car. 
If was about 5 p.m. on July 8th, when the boat on which 
I had come from New York approached her pier at Atlantic 
Highlands. There were then forty-four adult Ospreys 
flying about and perched on the series of fish nets in the lee 
of Sandy Hook. I counted eleven on one net and eight on 
another. I also saw one bird plunge from a height of about 
fifty feet and catch a fish, with which it alighted on a stake. 
It is worthy of note that this group of Ospreys lives only 
about nineteen miles from the crowded down-town 
district of New York, and their home is accessible in less 
than an hour by the fast steamers of the Sandy Hook Line. 
The nest to which I had been directed was situated 
on the outskirts of the town of Atlantic Highlands. 
I was considerably disappointed upon reaching it to find 
that it was deserted. According to a resident whom 
I questioned, it had not been inhabited since the second 
