FISH-HAWK, OR OSPREY. 75 



The Fish-Hawk is doubtless the most numerous of all its ge- 

 nus within the United States. It penetrates far into the interior 

 of the country up our large rivers, and their head waters. It 

 may be said to line the seacoast from Georgia to Canada. In 

 some parts I have counted, at one view, more than twenty of 

 their nests within half a mile. Mr. Gardiner informs me, that 

 on the small island on which he resides, there are at least 

 "three hundred nests of Fish-Hawks that have young, which, 

 on an average, consume probably not less than six hundred fish 

 daily." Before they depart in the autumn they regularly repair 

 their nests, carrying up sticks, sods, &c. fortifying them against 

 the violence of the winter storms, which, from this circumstance, 

 they would seem to foresee and expect. But, notwithstanding 

 all their precautions, they frequently, on their return in spring, 

 find them lying in ruins around the roots of the tree; and some- 

 times the tree itself has shared the same fate. When a number 

 of Hawks, to the amount of twenty or upwards, collect together 

 on one tree, making a loud squeeling noise, there is generally 

 a nest built soon after on the same tree. Probably this congres- 

 sional assembly were settling the right of the new pair to the 

 premises; or it might be a kind of wedding, or joyous festive 

 meeting on the occasion. They are naturally of a mild and 

 peaceable disposition, living together in great peace and har- 

 mony; for though with them, as in the best regulated commu- 

 nities, instances of attack and robbery occur among themselves, 

 yet these instances are extremely rare. Mr. Gardiner observes 

 that they are sometimes seen high in the air, sailing and cutting 

 strange gambols, with loud vociferations, darting down several 

 hundred feet perpendicular, frequently with part of a fish in 

 one claw, which they seem proud of, and to claim high hooky 

 as the fishermen call him who takes the greatest number. On 

 these occasions they serve as a barometer to foretel the changes 

 of the atmosphere; for when the Fish-Hawks are seen thus, 

 sailing high in air, in circles, it is universally believed to prog- 

 nosticate a change of weather, often a thunder storm, in a few 

 hours. On the faith of the certainty of these signs, the expe- 



