12 THE HOME-LIFE OF 
focussed his camera on the spot. Although Ospreys visited 
the pond on each of the days, it was only on the second 
that any success was achieved. I will present the incident 
in Mr. Cleaves’s own words :— 
‘“‘ After concealing my camera, I attached a thread to 
the shutter and carried the end to a chicken-house, a hundred 
yards off, where I sat down on a box to wait. Soon a 
Fish-Hawk came in over the pond from the bay outside, 
where he had been hovering from time to time in search 
of salt-water fish. As he swung gracefully over to my 
side of the pond and advanced in the direction of the decoy, 
poising himself now and again, my pulse quickened. 
But much to my disappointment, he passed directly above 
the fish and apparently took no notice of it. Then he 
flew back to the opposite end of the pond, and once more 
worked his way along the shore toward the camera. ‘This 
gave me new life, and I was further encouraged when he 
seemed to hesitate for a second or two above the spot 
where the fish was anchored. I was convinced that this 
supposition was correct when the Hawk flew to a dead tree, 
and then deliberately returned to a position directly above 
the fish. After hovering for a few moments the bird 
returned to the tree. ‘Then he flew out over the fish again, 
and once more went back to his perch. ‘This performance 
was repeated fully four or five times. The bird was 
evidently puzzled; but he was also hungry. At last he 
circled about to a point south of the ‘‘ fish,” and glided very 
cautiously down toward it at a gradual slant. He did 
not make the usual sensational plunge, but seemed to 
lower his talons into the water quite deliberately, as if a 
bit suspicious and inclined to feel his way before taking firm 
hold of his quarry. At the moment his feet entered the 
water I gave the thread such a vigorous pull that the 
camera was turned half way round, as I afterwards found. 
“The bird arose with empty talons and returned to his 
perch on the tree. I ran to the water, waded out up to 
my knees and found that the fish had entirely disappeared, 
