ON THE BEACH AT DAYTON A. 43 



That done, they shook themselves vigorously 

 and started landward, the shining white vic- 

 tim wriggling vainly in the clutch of the tal- 

 ons. I took it for granted that they retired 

 with their quarry to some secluded spot on 

 the peninsula, till one day I happened to be 

 standing upon a sand-hill as one passed 

 overhead. Then I perceived that he kept 

 on straight across the peninsula and the 

 river. More than once, however, I saw one 

 of them in no haste to go inland. On my 

 second visit, a hawk came circling about my 

 head, carrying a fish. I was surprised at 

 the action, but gave it no second thought, 

 nor once imagined that he was making me 

 his protector, till suddenly a large bird 

 dropped rather awkwardly upon the sand, 

 not far before me. He stood for an instant 

 on his long, ungainly legs, and then, showing 

 a white head and a white tail, rose with a 

 fish in his talons, and swept away landward 

 out of sight. Here was the osprey's para- 

 site, the bald eagle, for which I had been 

 on the watch. Meantime, the hawk too 

 had disappeared. Whether it was his fish 

 which the eagle had picked up (having 

 missed it in the air) I cannot say. I did 



