FISH-HAWK, OR OSPREY. 73 



inherit the spirit of his predecessor, for like a true step-father, 

 he left the nest at my approach, and sailed about at a safe dis- 

 tance with his mate, who showed great anxiety and distress du- 

 ring the whole of my visit. It is universally asserted by the 

 people of the neighbourhood where these birds breed, that the 

 young remain so long, before they fly, that the parents are 

 obliged at last to compel them to shift for themselves, beating 

 them with their wings, and driving them from the nest. But 

 that they continue to assist them even after this, I know to be a 

 fact from my own observation, as I have seen the young bird 

 meet its parent in the air, and receive from him the fish he 

 carried in his claws. 



The flight of the Fish-Hawk, his manoeuvres while in search 

 of fish, and his manner of seizing his prey, are deserving of 

 particular notice. In leaving the nest he usually flies direct till 

 he comes to the sea, then sails around in easy curving lines, 

 turning sometimes in the air as on a pivot, apparently without 

 the least exertion, rarely moving the wings, his legs extended 

 in a straight line behind, and his remarkable length and curva- 

 ture or bend of wing, distinguishing him from all other Hawks. 

 The height at which he thus elegantly glides is various, from 

 one hundred to one hundred and fifty, and two hundred feet, 

 sometimes much higher, all the while calmly reconnoitring the 

 face of the deep below. Suddenly he is seen to check his course, 

 as if struck by a particular object, which he seems to survey 

 for a few moments with such steadiness that he appears fixed 

 in air, flapping his wings. This object however he abandons, or 

 rather the fish he had in his eye has disappeared, and he is 

 again seen sailing around as before. Now his attention is again 

 arrested, and he descends with great rapidity ; but ere he reach- 

 es the surface, shoots off on another course, as if ashamed that 

 a second victim had escaped him. He now sails at a short 

 height above the surface, and by a zig-zag descent and without 

 seeming to dip his feet in the water, seizes a fish, which after 

 carrying a short distance, he probably drops, or yields up to 

 the Bald Eagle, and again ascends by easy spiral circles, to the 



VOL. i. M m 



