FALCONID.E. 



FALCON I i 



701 



iU claw* ; and White mention* another that was shot at Frim<haiu 

 Pond, near Selbourne, while it wai sitting on the handle of A plough 

 and devouring fish, "It used," ay Whit*, "to prccipiUto itaelf 

 into the water and take its prey by surprise." 



-. 





Bald Buzzard (Pfiulion Xuliatlui). 



It ha* been Been at Killarncy in Ireland ; and Montngu speaks of 

 ita frequent occurcnce in Devonshire. Selby gays, " I have seen 

 tin-in \t|>on Loch Lomond, where they aresnid to breed : but they are 

 far from being numerous in Scotland." Montagu corroborates this ; 

 for he says, in his ' Ornithological Dictionary,' " It is said to make ita 

 neat generally on the ground by the side of water, composed of flags 

 and rushes ; but we once saw the nest of this bird on the top of a 

 chimney of a ruin in an island on Loch Lomond in Scotland ; it was 

 large and flat, formed of sticks hud across, and resting on the sides of 

 the chimney, lined with flags." 



I'rincc C. L. Bonaparte states that it is found near Rome. 



In America it is said to be found in the summer from Labrador to 

 Florida ; and it is even stated to have been seen in Cayenne : indeed 

 I.:itham give* it the name of Cayenne Osprey. But it is in the moro 

 ti'in|K-rat<; climate of the new continent that the bird abounds : and 

 there ita coming is eagerly watched by the fishermen as the harbinger 

 of the shoal* of fish that approach the shore* in the spring. 



" Towards the close of March," writes Nuttall in his interesting 

 1 Manual,' " or beginning of April, they arrive in the vicinity of Boston 

 with the first shoal of alewives or herrings, bnt yet are seldom known 

 to breed along the coast* of Massachusetts." The same author attri- 

 bute* their departure from New York and New Jersey, as early as the 

 close of September, or at farthest the middle of October, when they 

 migrate farther south, to the going of the fish on which they are 

 accustomed to feed ; for they principally live on fish, which they take 

 by dashing from on high into the water with such violence, that, as 

 Pennant observe, the Italians have applied to the bird the epithet 

 ' piombina.' 



Hut the Bald Buzzard is haunted by a persecutor that often snatches 

 from it the hard-earned prey. Catesby and other* describe ita suffer- 

 ings from the piracy of the White-Headed Sea-Eagle, ffaliaetm 

 Icucocepkaliu ; and Wilson give* the following vivid description of 

 uch a scene a description which those only who have devoted 

 themselves to watching the habits of animals can give : " Elevated," 

 WITH that admirable ornithologist, speaking of the White-Headed 

 Kagle, as he aaw him in America, " on the high dead limb of some 

 gigantic tree that command* a wide view of the ocean, he seems 

 calmly to contemplate the motion* of the various feathered tribes 

 that pursue their busy avocation* below, the snow-white gulls slowly 

 winnowing the air; the busy tringte coursing along the sands ; trains 

 <>f ducks streaming over the surface ; silent and watchful cranes, intent 

 and wading ; clamorous crow*, and all the winged multitude* that 

 subsist by the bounty of this vast liquid magazine of nature. High 

 over all these hovers one whose action instantly arrest* his attention. 

 I'.y his wide curvature of wing, and sudden suspension in the air, he 

 knows him to be the fi.th-hawk, settling over some devoted victim of 

 the deep. His eye kindle* at the sight, and balancing himself with 

 half-opened wing* on the branch, he watches the result. Down, rapid 

 a* an arrow from heaven descends the distant object of hi* attention, 

 the roar of ita wings reaching the ear a* it disappears in the deep, 

 making the surges foam around. At this moment the eager look* of 

 the eagle are all ardour; and levelling hi* neck for flight, he sees the 



fish-hawk once more emerge struggling with hi* prey, and mounting 

 in the air with scream* of exultation. These are the signals for our 

 hero, who, launching into the air, instantly give* chace, and soon gain* 

 on the fish-hawk. Each exerta his utmost to mount above the other, 

 displaying in these rencontre* the most elegant and sublime aerial 

 evolutions. The unincumbcred eagle rapidly advance*, and is just 

 on the point of reaching his opponent, when with a sudden scream, 

 probably of despair and honest execration, the latter drops his fish ; 

 the eagle, poising himself for a moment, as if to take a more certain 

 aim, descends like a whirlwind, snatches it in his grasp ere it reaches 

 the water, and bears his ill-gotten booty silently away to the woods." 

 The Bald Buzzard is a powerful bird, and the females, which are 

 the largest, as indeed they are among most of the birds of prey, some- 

 times weigh Slba The plumage, which is very like that of the 

 water-fowl, and adapted to resisting the fluid into which it plunges 

 for its prey, is white below, with a few brown streaks and speckles on 

 the throat. There is indeed a patch of brown on the upper part of 

 the breast in young birds. The crown of the head is light-brown, 

 fldged with white ; and there is a streak of dark-brown from the eye 

 to the shoulders. The whole of the upper part of the body is brown. 

 The feathers on the thighs are close, and the legs short, stout, and 

 grayish : and in this part of its organisation we see a beautiful instance 

 of adaptation to ita habits. The close thigh-feathers resist the action 

 of the water, while the talon of the outer toe is much larger than tin- 

 inner one, and capable of being turned backwards ; the under surface* 

 of all the toes are also very rough and covered with protuberances, 

 which enable it to secure it* slippery prey. The irides are of a lemon 

 colour. 



Head and foot ofBuld Buzzard (Pandion Ifaliaetui). 



The Bald Buzzard, or Osprey, lays from two to four eggs, a little 

 larger than those of the common fowl, of a reddish or yellowish 

 cream-colour, marked with blotches and dots of reddish-brown. 

 During incubation the male often feeds the female. Nuttal, in his 

 'Manual,' gives the following account of their habit* in the breeding 

 season : 



"Unlike other rapacious birds, the ospreys may be almost con- 

 sidered gregarious, breeding so near each other, that, according to 

 Mr. Qardiuerv there were on the small island on which he resided, near 

 to the eastern extremity of Long Island, New York, no U-< than 1100 

 nesta with young. Wilson observed twenty of their nestx within liulf 

 a mile. I have seen them nearly as thick about Rehoboth Bay, in 

 Delaware. Here they live together at least as peaceably as rooks ; 

 and so harmless are they considered by other birds, that, according to 



