AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



31 



ward like an arrow, strikes the 

 water with a splash, that on a still 

 day may be heard half a mile 

 away, disappears for a second, 

 then rises with a wriggling fish in 

 his talons. His feet are especially 

 adapted for his purpose, as they 

 are very powerful, and the bottoms 

 of them are very hard and rough 

 to enable him to firmly hold his 

 prey. 



His chief enemy is the bald 

 eagle. Not that this bird destroys 

 the osprey or its nests, but he has 

 another use for him. He knows 

 that the fish-hawk is a clever fish- 

 erman, and while he himself occa- 

 sionally goes fishing, he much pre- 

 fers to rob the osprey of his right- 

 ful spoils. The latter, as soon as 

 he sees that he is pursued, en- 

 deavors to escape by mounting 

 skyward, meanwhile uttering 

 piercing shrieks. His pursuer re- 

 lentlessly follows, and, with 

 scarcely a perceptible motion of 

 his wings, rises higher and higher, 

 until the osprey gives in to his 

 superior strength and swiftness 

 and drops his prey. 



The osprey uses the same nest 

 year after year, adding a few 

 sticks and more seaweed each sea- 

 son, so that in a few years, it be- 



comes an enormous affair, some- 

 times four or five feet across. The 

 bulkiness of his nest is very forci- 

 bly apparent to many would-be 

 collectors. After having climbed 

 to the top of a tree, some 50 or 60 

 feet high, and braved the attacks 

 of the parent birds (for they are 

 fearless in the protection of their 

 eggs and young), he finds to his 

 dismay that he cannot reach over 

 the nest to get at the eggs, be- 

 cause of its size. 



The osprey is not particular 

 about the location of his nest, as 

 long as it is near good fishing 

 grounds. It has been known 

 to build on a chimney-top, also on 

 the cross-piece of a telephone 

 pole. A man in Bristol, R. I. 

 erected in his yard a pole about 

 30 feet high, and placed a plat- 

 form with a few scattered sticks 

 on it at the top. The following 

 year a pair of fish-hawks occupied 

 it and have continued to for sev- 

 eral years since. 



It is protected by law in a 

 number of states, and its trem- 

 ulous, piercing whistle may be 

 heard at all hours of the day. The 

 fishermen regard it kindly, and 

 will not allow its nest to be 

 disturbed if they can prevent it. 



THE OSPREY. 



Soon as the sun, great ruler of the year, 

 Bends to our northern clime its bright career. 

 And from the caves of ocean calls from sleep. 

 The finny shoals and myriads of the deep; 

 When freezing tempests back to Greenland ride, 

 And day and night the equal hours divide; 

 True to the season, o'er our sea-beat shore. 

 The sailing osprey high is seen to soar, 

 With broad, unmoving wing, and circling slow, 

 Marks each loose straggler in the deep below; 

 Sweeps down like lightning; plunges with a roar, 

 And bears his struggling victim to the shore. 



Alexander Wilson 



