THE OSPREY. 13 
Feeling about, I came across it at last, lying flat on the 
bottom. ‘The force of the grip had evidently been con- 
siderable to dislodge the wire and upset the fish. The 
Hawk’s claws had left five marks on the decoy, two on each 
side of the back in front of the dorsal fin, and one on the 
right side of the dorsal fin toward the rear.” 
The negative, which was unfortunately under-exposed, 
represents the bird with the entire legs and end of the tail 
submerged, wings raised aloft, and neck stretched forward 
—an attitude of evident upward striving. The experiments 
were all carried on in the early morning before visitors 
began to throng the shores of the pond, which is quite a 
populous neighbourhood. An amusing incident, wit- 
nessed by myself on the last occasion, was when Mr. Cleaves, 
after waiting unsuccessfully for several hours, strode into 
the water and emerged triumphant with the large Goldfish 
in his arms, before the astonished gaze of picnickers who 
had arrived in the meantime ! 
My best opportunities for studying the nesting of the 
Osprey have been at Gardiner’s Island, a roughly triangular 
piece of land some three thousand acres in extent, which 
lies about three miles from the eastern point of Long 
Island. My visits to this world-famous breeding colony 
of Ospreys have been: July 4th to 11th, 1903, in company 
with Dr. Philip H. Bahr, a member of the British Ornitho- 
logists’ Union ; July 4th, 1905, in company with Dr. Wm. 
C. Braislin, a member of the American Ornithologists’ 
Union ; and July 2nd to 6th, 1910, in company with Mr. 
Howard H. Cleaves, Assistant Curator in the Public 
Museum, New Brighton, New York. In addition, a party 
of five members of the Linnean Society of New York 
visited the island from June 8th to 14th, 1911; and all 
have kindly placed at my disposal such of their valuable 
notes as relate to the Osprey. 
Gardiner’s Island is in many respects an ideal resort for 
Ospreys. It is surrounded by waters rich in fish ; in fact 
it is an important source of supply for the New York markets. 
