FISHINO HABITS OF THE OSPBET. 347 



brown or brownish-white. The osprey finds a worthy an- 

 tagonist in the white-headed eagle. 



Elevated on the high dead limb of some gigantic tree that 

 commands a wide view of the neighboring shore and ocean, 

 the white-headed eagle seems calmly to contemplate the 

 motions of the various feathered tribes that pursue their 

 busy avocations below: the snow-white gulls slowly winnow- 

 ing the air; the busy sand-pipers coursing along the sands; 

 trahis of ducks streaming over the surface ; silent and 

 watchful cranes, intent and wading ; clamorous crows ; and 

 all the winged multitude that subsist by the bounty of this 

 vast liquid magazine of Nature. High over all these hovers 

 one whose actions instantly arrest all the attention of the 

 observer, ^j his wide curvature of wing and sudden sus- 

 pension in air he knows him to be the osprey, the "fish-hawk,'^ 

 settling over some devoted victim of the ocean. His eye 

 kindles at the sight, and balancing himself with half-opened 

 wings on the branch, he watches the result. Down — rapid 

 as an arrow from heaven — descends the distant object of his 

 attention, the roar of its wings reaching the ear as it disap- 

 pears in the deep, making the surges foam around. At 

 this moment the eager looks of the eagle are all ardor ; and 

 levelling his neck for flight, he sees the osprey once more 

 emerge struggling with his prey, and mounting in the air 

 with screams of exultation. These are the signals for our 

 hero, who, launching into the air, instantly gives chase, soon 

 gains on the fish-hawk; each exerts its utmost to mount 

 cbove the other, displaying in the struggle the most elegant 

 and sublime aerial evolutions. The unencumbered sea-eagle 

 rapidly advances, and is just on the point of reaching his 

 opponent, when, with a sudden scream, probably of despair 

 and honest execration, the osprey 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 



