THE AMERICAN OSPREY. 417 



No. 187. 



AMERICAN OSPREY. 



A. O. U. No. 364. Pandion haliaetus carolinensis (Gmel.). 



Synonym. FISH HAWK. 



Description. Adult male: Upper parts plain fuscous; tip of wing blackish; 

 tail crossed by six or eight dusky bands ; head white, heavily but narrowly streaked 

 with blackish ; an irregular dusky band proceeding backward from eye ; feathers 

 of occiput loosely ruffled, or presenting a crested appearance ; under parts white, 

 sometimes rufous-spotted on breast, but usually immaculate ; lining of wing mot- 

 tled, white and fuscous near edge, remainder white or buffy, dusky-barred dis- 

 tally; bill and claws black; cere and base of bill bluish black; feet bluish gray; 

 iris yellow and red. Adult female: Similar but breast heavily marked with yel- 

 lowish brown or fuscous. Immature : Like adult, but feathers of upper parts 

 bordered terminally with white or buffy. The same distinction obtains between 

 the sexes as in case of adults. Length 21.00-25.00 (533.4-635.) ; wing 17.00-20.50 

 (431.8-520.7); tail 7.00-10.00 (177.8-254.); culmen 1.20-1.40 (30.5-35.6). 



Recognition Marks. Brant size ; extensive white contrasting with fuscous, 

 distinctive ; labored flight ; river- and lake-haunting ways. 



Nest, an immense mass of sticks, broad-topped, lined centrally with bark- 

 strips and soft materials ; placed centrally on top of trees of various heights, or 

 on isolated rocks of rivers, etc. Eggs, 2-4, dull or buffy white, heavily spotted, 

 blotched, or overspread with chocolate ; rarely almost or quite unmarked. Av. 

 size, 2.45 x 1.81 (62.2 x 46.). 



General Range. North America from Hudson Bay and Alaska south to 

 the West Indies and northern South America. Breeds throughout its North 

 American range. 



Range in Ohio. Not uncommon locally, about the reservoirs and on Lake 

 Erie. Rare or unknown elsewhere. Chiefly summer resident. Sparingly resi- 

 dent in winter in the extreme south. 



ALONG the sea coast, up the large rivers, and wherever there are con- 

 siderable bodies of water, the Fish Hawks are to be found more or less com- 

 monly according to the treatment which they have received at the hand of 

 man. They are simple-hearted, honest folk, and deserve protection, if for 

 no other reason, because they are fishermen. They are, however, cruelly per- 

 secuted in many sections of the country, and have been almost exterminated 

 in this state; but to my mind it is a mighty mean sportsman who will begrudge 

 a poor bird the taking of a few fish by methods not less sportsmanlike than 

 his own. 



The Osprey feeds exclusively upon fish and covers long stretches of water 

 in its tireless search. It flies along at a height of fifty or a hundred feet above 

 the water, and when its finny prey is sighted, pauses for a moment on hovering 

 wings, then drops with a resounding splash, often quite disappearing beneath 



