240 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



of the eagerness with which the collector seeks 

 after the skin of the male, whose attractive colours 

 excite his cupidity. 



OSPREY. 



{Pandion haliaetus?) 

 Order ACCIPITRES ; Family FALCONID^E (FALCONS). 



Description of Parent Birds. 

 Length about twenty- two inches. 

 Beak short, much curved, and 

 black ; naked skin round base of 

 beak blue. Irides yellow. Crown 

 and nape whitish, streaked with 

 dark brown, the feathers some- 

 what elongated into a kind of 

 crest. Back and wings dark 

 brown, sometimes glossed with 

 purple, ends of the latter black. 

 Tail waved with two shades of brown ; chin and 

 throat white, shaded with light brown across the 

 breast ; belly, sides, thighs, and under tail-coverts 

 white. Legs and toes blue, claws long, strong, 

 much curved, and black. 



The female is slightly larger, and has her head 

 and breast more marked with brown, according to 

 Mr. Seebohm ; although this difference does not 

 appear very noticeable, so far as my experience 

 goes, when studying the birds at home amidst their 

 natural surroundings. 



Situation and Locality. Near the top of a tree, 

 the summit of an inland crag, or on the highest 

 point of some ruin upon an island or commanding 

 promontory amongst the lonely lochs of the High- 

 lands of Scotland. It is only known to breed in 



