WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. OSPREY. 5 



seen in this country." It is probable that, besides being 

 a much scarcer species than the white-tailed eagle, the 

 flatness of our own county, compared with the usual 

 haunts of the golden eagle, may account for its non- 

 appearance on our Eastern coast, since, neither in 

 Europe, North Africa, Asia, or North America, is it 

 found to wander far from the mountainous districts. 

 Yarrell, in the first volume of his "British Birds," 

 has most clearly pointed out the marked difference at 

 any age in the feet of these two eagles, and it is only 

 necessary to remember that the sea eagle has "the 

 whole length of each toe covered with broad scales," and 

 the golden eagle only " three broad scales at the end of 

 each toe," with the legs feathered to the division of the 

 toes, to determine at once the species to which any local 

 specimen properly belongs. 



PANDION HALLffiETUS (Linnams). 



OSPEEY. 



The Osprey or Fishing Hawk, as this bird is some- 

 times called, still visits us as a regular migrant in small 

 numbers; but though formerly, as stated by Messrs. 

 Gurney and Fisher, most plentiful during the autumn 

 months, it has of late years entirely altered its habits in 

 this respect, and appears almost invariably in April and 

 May, and occasionally even as late as the middle of June. 

 It is more than probable that their total extermina- 

 tion on the Scottish lochs may in some degree account 

 for this change ; certainly whatever the cause, out of 30 

 specimens that have come under my notice since 1847, 

 only ten were procured in the autumn months, and for 

 the last five years at least, with but two exceptions, the 

 ospreys have appeared in spring. Of these birds the 



