70 FISH-HAWK, OR OSPREY. 



to nearly a white, splashed and daubed all over with dark 

 Spanish brown, as if done by art. * During the time the female 

 is sitting, the male frequently supplies her with fish; though 

 she occasionally takes a short circuit to sea herself, but quickly 

 returns again. The attention of the male, on such occasions, 

 is regulated by the circumstances of the case. A pair of these 

 birds, on the south side of Great Egg-harbour river, and near 

 its mouth, were noted for several years. The female having 

 but one leg was regularly furnished, while sitting, with fish in 

 such abundance, that she seldom left the nest, and never to 

 seek for food. This kindness was continued both before and 

 after incubation. Some animals who claim the name and ra- 

 tionality of man might blush at the recital of this fact. 



On the appearance of the young, which is usually about the 

 last of June, the zeal and watchfulness of the parents are ex- 

 treme. They stand guard, and go off to fish, alternately; one 

 parent being always within a short distance of the nest. On 

 the near approach of any person, the Hawk utters a plaintive 

 whistling note, which becomes shriller as she takes to wing, 

 and sails around, sometimes making a rapid descent, as if aim- 

 ing directly for you; but checking her course and sweeping 

 past at a short distance over head, her wings making a loud 

 whizzing in the air. My worthy friend Mr. Gardiner informs 

 me, that they have even been known to fix their claws in a ne- 

 gro's head, who was attempting to climb to their nest; and I 



* Of the palatableness of these eggs I cannot speak from personal expe- 

 rience; but the following incident will show that the experiment has actually 

 been made. A country fellow, near Cape May, on his way to a neighbour- 

 ing tavern, passing a tree on which was a Fish-Hawk's nest, immediately 

 mounted and robbed it of the only egg it contained, which he carried with 

 him to the tavern, and desired the landlord to make it into egg-nogg. The ta- 

 vern-keeper, after a few wry faces, complied with his request, and the fellow 

 swallowed the cordial; but, whether from its effects on the olfactory nerves 

 (for he said it smelt abominably) the imagination, or on the stomach alone, 

 is uncertain, it operated as a most outrageous emetic, and cured the man, for 

 that time at least, of his thirst for egg-nogg. What is rather extraordinary, 

 the landlord (Mr. Beasley) assured me, that to all appearance the egg was 

 perfectly fresh. 



