104 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



March and leaving in October. A few remain all year from the 

 Missouri River southward, especially in open winters; others 

 remain late and return early, soon after the backbone of the 

 winter is broken, about the middle of February, but the species 

 does not become generally distributed before the middle or end 

 of March. Transients are not much in evidence in spring, but 

 large numbers, mostly birds of the year, are present in August 

 and September, when, together with Mourning Doves, they 

 frequent wheat stubble in search of grasshoppers, while the Doves 

 pick up the scattered grain and weed seeds. Of late several 

 pairs winter in St. Louis, captivated with the beauty of our 

 English Sparrows, an article of diet to which they have recourse 

 when nothing better can be had. 



/ 4 



Subfamily Pandionina\ Ospreys. 



*364. Pandion haliaetus carolinensis (Gmel.). American 

 Osprey. 



Pandion carolinensis. Pandion haliaetus. Fish-hawk. 



Geog. Dist. — From northern South America and the West 

 Indies to the arctic circle, throughout North America from At- 

 lantic to Pacific, and from Newfoundland to Alaska. Breeds 

 throughout its North American range, and winters from the 

 South Atlantic and Gulf States southward. 



Like the Bald Eagle, the Osprey, commonly called Fish-hawk, 

 was formerly a well-known summer resident in the same localities 

 and, like the Eagle, its present status as a breeder in the state 

 is one of uncertainty and doubt. It is only within the last de- 

 cade that this condition has been brought about, for ten years 

 ago the Fish-hawk was not uncommon during the breeding sea- 

 son in several parts of the southeast. Its home was to be found 

 not only along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, but also 

 along such streams as the Gasconade and Osage. Mr. B. T. 

 Gault observed it in May, 1888, in the White River bottom 

 below our southern state boundary. Thirty years ago, before 

 Creve Coeur Lake was connected by railroad with St. Louis, a 

 pair had its home in the vicinity of that lake. On June 26, 

 1906, the writer saw an Osprey in Atchison Co., the northwest 

 corner of Missouri (from where Audubon reported its presence 

 on May 9, 1843), but whether it should be classed among the 

 summer residents, or only as a summer visitant, could not be 



