EAGLE. 



367 



never descends to pick up a fish which he happens to 

 drop either on the hind or on the water. There is a 

 kind of abstemious dignity in this habit of the hawk 

 superior to the gluttonous voracity displayed by most 

 other birds of prey, particularly by the bald eagle, 

 whose piratical robberies committed on the present 

 species have been already fullv detailed in treating of 

 his history. The hawk, however, in his fishing pur- 

 suits, sometimes mistakes his mark, or overrates his 

 strength, by striking fish too large and powerful for 

 him to manage, by whom he is suddenly dragged 

 under ; and though he sometimes succeeds in extri- 

 cating himself, after being taken three or four times 

 down, yet oftener both parties perish. The bodies of 

 sturgeon, and of several other large fish, with a fish- 

 hawk fast grappled in them, have at various times 

 been found dead on the shore, cast up by the waves. 

 " The fish-hawk is doubtless the most numerous of 

 all its genus within the United States. It penetrates 

 far into the interior of the country up our large rivers 

 and their head waters. It may be said to line the 

 sea coast from Georgia to Canada. In some parts 1 

 have counted, at one view, more than twenty of their 

 nests \vitliin half a mile. Mr. Gardiner informs me 

 that, on the small island on which he resides, there 

 are at least ' three hundred nests of fish-hawks that 

 have young, which, on an average, consume probably 

 not less than six hundred fish daily.' Before they 

 depart in the autumn, they regularly repair their nests, 

 carrying up sticks, sods, &c., fortifying them against 

 the violence of the winter storms, which, from this 

 circumstance, they would seem to foresee and expect. 

 But notwithstanding all their precautions, they fre- 

 quently, on their return in spring, find them lying in 

 ruins around the roots of the tree which itself has shared 

 the same fate. When a number of hawks, to the amount 

 of twenty or upwards, collect together on one tree, 

 making a loud squeeling noise, there is generally a 

 nest built soon after on the same tree. Probably 

 this congressional assembly were settling the right of 

 the new pair to the premises; or it might be a kind 

 of wedding, or joyous festive meeting on the occasion. 

 They are naturally of a mild and peaceable disposi- 

 tion," living together in great peace and harmony ; for 

 though with them, as in the best regulated communi- 

 ties, instances of attack and robbery occur among 

 themselves, yet these instances are extremely rare. 

 Mr. Gardiner observes, that they are sometimes seen 

 high in the air, sailing and cutting strange gambols, 

 with loud vociferations, darting down several hundred 

 feet perpendicular, frequently with part of a fish in 

 one claw, which they seem proud of, and to claim 

 high hook as the fishermen call him who takes the 

 greatest number. On these occasions, they serve a 

 a barometer to foretel the changes of the atmosphere ; 

 for when the fish- hawks are seen thus sailing high in 

 the air, in circles, it is universally believed to prog- 

 nosticate a change of weather, often a thunder-storm 

 in a few hours. On the faith of the certainty of these 

 signs, the experienced coaster wisely prepares for the 

 expected storm, and he is rarely mistaken. 



" There is one singular trait in the character of this 

 bird, which is mentioned in treating of the purple 

 grakle, and which I have had many opportunities o 

 witnessing. The grakles, or crow blackbirds, are 

 permitted by the fish-hawk to build their nests among 

 the insterstices of the sticks of which his own is 

 constructed, several pairs of grakles taking up thei 

 abode there, like humble vassals around the castle o 



heir chief, laying, hatching their young, and living 

 ogether in mutual harmony. I have found no less 

 han four of these nests clustered around the sides of 

 he former, and a fifth fixed on the nearest branch of 

 he adjoining tree ; as if the proprietor of this last, 

 inable to find an unoccupied corner on the premises, 

 lad been anxious to share, as much as possible, the 

 company and protection of this generous bird. 



" The fish-hawk is twenty-two inches in length, and 

 ive feet three inches in extent ; the bill is deep black, 

 'he upper as well as the lower cere (for the base of the 

 ower mandible has a loose moveable skin) and also 

 the sides of the mouth, from the nostrils backwards, 

 are light blue ; crown and hind part of the head pure 

 white, front streaked with brown ; through the eye, a 

 jar of dark blackish brown passes to the neck behind, 

 which, as well as the whole upper parts, is deep brown, 

 the edges of the feathers lighter ; shafts of the wing 

 quills brownish white ; tail slightly rounded, of rather 

 a paler brown than the body, crossed with eight bars 

 of very dark brown ; the wings, when shut, extend 

 about an inch beyond the tail, and are nearly black 

 owards the tips ; the inner vanes of both quill and 

 ail feathers are whitish barred with brown ; whole 

 lower parts pure white, except the thighs, which 

 tire covered with short plumage, and streaked down 

 the fore part with pale brown ; the legs and feet are 

 a very pale light blue, prodigiously strong, and dis- 

 proportionally large, and are covered with flat scales 

 of remarkable strength and thickness, resembling, 

 when dry, the teeth of a large rasp, particularly on 

 the soles, intended, no doubt, to enable the bird to 

 seize with more security his slippery prey ; the thighs 

 are long, the legs short, feathered a little below the 

 knee, and, as well as the feet and claws, large ; the 

 latter hooked into semicircles, black, and very sharp 

 pointed ; the iris of the eye a fiery yellow orange. 



" The female is fully two inches longer ; the upper 

 part of the head of a less pure white, and the brown 

 streaks on the front spreading more over the crown. 

 The throat and upper part of the breast are dashed 

 with large blotches of pale brown, and the brown bar 

 across the eye is less deep in the tint. The toes of 

 both are exceedingly strong, and much tuberculated ; 

 and the claw on the hind toe is an inch and a quarter 

 in measure. The feathers on the hind part of the head 

 are long and narrow, and erected when the bird is 

 excited, as is the case in the land eagles. The eye is 

 without the projecting bony socket, which is common 

 to most of the birds of prey ; and the nostrils are very 

 large, triangular, and curved. The two glands on the 

 rump, which supply the bird with oil for lubricating 

 the feathers, are very large, and the contents is a fatty 

 matter, bearing some resemblance in consistency to 

 hog's lard." Thus far we have quoted Wilson's 

 description of this very interesting bird, a bird 

 which is, perhaps, more characteristic of the Arneri 

 can waters than any other which is found on the 

 shores and recesses of that country, which is pecu- 

 liarly the land of lakes and streams ; and where, in 

 consequence, the inhabitants of the waters are of 

 peculiar interest. 



Though there are some slight differences between 

 the descriptions of Wilson and the other American 

 describers, and those of the European naturalists that 

 have described this bird as the osprey of our shores, 

 there seems little doubt of the perfect identity of the 

 species in both continents. In Europe, indeed, the 

 bird is said to build less habitually in trees than it 



