THE OSPREY. II 
from the support of the hinder foot, is starting to drop 
downward in the air (vide Plate 33b). Similarly, in flying 
from a perch with a fish, I have noted that at the moment 
the bird first rises, the fish is held only by the forward foot; 
the other is then more or less deliberately clasped on behind. 
In this connection it might be stated that Ospreys often 
exhibit a surprising disinclination to eat their prey. I have 
seen them bear it about for hours, settling, flying again, 
soaring, but ever holding fast to the precious fish. One 
almost forgets that it is food, and could imagine it is 
something the birds cannot rid themselves of ! . 
The varieties of fish fed upon by the Osprey appear to 
be limited only by its ability to catch them. Any fish that 
ascends to the surface of the water, and is not too large or 
too small to be extracted, appears to be welcome game. 
The inhabitants of salt and fresh water are equally taken. 
The only species worthy of particular note is a flat-fish, 
commonly called the Flounder, which I have often observed 
Ospreys carrying. This is naturally a “bottom” fish, 
and fishermen declare that the bird will descend four or 
five feet into the water to capture it as it lies in the shallows. 
However, ichtyhologists inform me that the Flounder 
sometimes comes near to the surface to strike at food. 
With the ingenuity instinctive to the bird-photographer, 
my friend Mr. Howard H. Cleaves, of Staten Island, New 
York, conceived the idea of attempting to photograph an 
Osprey plunging, by the use of an imitation fish. ‘Through 
a friend in the American Museum of Natural History, 
he secured an accurately coloured wax model of a large 
Goldfish—a species the Osprey is commonly seen to take 
in the spring, when waters are still murky from the winter’s 
floods. From the under-side of the fish extended a strong 
wire rod which, during experiments, was driven into the 
mud in a shallow part of a large pond, holding the fish 
near the surface of the water, as though basking in the 
sunshine. On three separate occasions, April 19th, April 
23rd, and May 7th, 1911, Mr. Cleaves set out the fish and 
