346 THE OSPREY OB FISEING-EAOLE. 



projecting angle that partly roofs the nest. Their enemy 

 now retreats, disposes the bundle of heath in a loose manner, 

 blows the peat into a flame, and partially encloses it. Once 

 more he approaches the brink, casting an anxious eye 

 towards the old' eagles which are wheeling in short circles 

 and uttering confused and piercing cries ; then blowing the 

 flame, kindles the bundle of combustibles, and rapidly lowers 

 it right into the nest. The young birds scream and hiss, 

 throwing themselves into attitudes of defence. The heath 

 smokes and crackles, and at length blazes into full flame; 

 then the sticks, sea-weeds, wool, and feathers of the nest 

 catch fire, and the ascending column of smoke indicates to 

 the ropemen above that the deed is doing. Flames and 

 smoke conceal the young birds from the avenger's gaze, but 

 he stirs not until they have abated, and he sees the huge 

 eyrie and its contents reduced to ashes. He then calls to 

 his friends, who tighten the rope, and preparing himself 

 for the ascent, is hauled up, encountering no small danger 

 from the fragments which are loosened from the rock, and 

 the difiiculty of keeping his face and breast from the ragged 

 points which project from the cliff. Birds have feelings 

 as well as men, and those of the eagle are doubtless acute, 

 for the old birds Avheel and scream along the face of the rock 

 for many days in succession, and as by this time the summer 

 is far advanced, they form no new nest. 



But the king of winged fishers is the famous Osprey, the 

 Fishing Eagle par excellence, or Fishing Hawk, as it has been 

 variously named, a bird remarkable among the rapacious 

 kind for the peculiar adaption it enjoys for fishing. The 

 wings of the male osprey are sixty inches in length, the 

 body being twenty-three ; the female, however, is larger, 

 but does not differ much in color, which is generally in the 

 upper parts a deep brown, beautifully glossed with light 

 purple, the margins and tips of the feathers being pale 



