FISHING HAWK 



Michelet descants in L'Oiseau, the fact that the gape of 

 the mouth reaches, but does not pass, the eye, and the 

 slight webbing between the outer front toes. The osprey 

 has not the latter character, which, as well as a few 

 others, produces a certain likeness to the owl tribe, 

 which are known to be not nearly related to the hawk 

 tribe. On account of these few facts, Pandion haliaetus, 

 the osprey, has been given a separate place in the 

 Accipitrine phalanx, which however it hardly deserves. 

 A glance at the living bird, which is frequently to be 

 found at the Zoo, will show this. It is unmistakably 

 and thoroughly a hawk. The long-legged caracaras, 

 and still more perhaps the less known Polyboroides of 

 Africa, have a. suggestion of the secretary bird, which is 

 unquestionably an " aberrant " hawk. They may remind 

 the visitor, too, of quite a distinct form, the cariama, 

 which ornithologists now hold to be not far off from 

 the cranes, by their habit of throwing back the neck 

 when uttering their prolonged cry. But the remaining 

 assemblage can only with difficulty be split up into 

 " families," and even the carrion-loving ways of the 

 vulture are successfully imitated by that "noble" bird 

 the golden eagle, who will stoop readily from sailing 

 with supreme dominion through the azure deep of air 

 to settle upon a festering sheep's carcass. The osprey 

 seems to be free from this ghoulish taste. This fish 

 hawk, as it is often called, is world wide in range ; it 

 extends much farther than from China to Peru, viz. 

 from Japan to Brazil, and from Alaska to New Zealand. 

 It catches fish in the sea or in lakes ; with us it is a 

 rarity, though it has been ascertained to breed here, 

 or rather in Scotland. And very rightly, as evidence of 

 the proper importance to be attached to the matter, the 

 Zoological Society awarded some years back a medal 

 to certain gentlemen who had been instrumental in 

 cherishing the nests and home of the osprey.. 

 Z.G. 193 o 



