FISH-HAWK, OR OSPREY. 77 



more security his slippery prey; the thighs are long, the legs 

 short, feathered a little below the knee, and as well as the feet 

 and claws large; the latter hooked into semicircles, black, and 

 very sharp pointed; the iris of the eye a fiery yellow orange. 



The female is full two inches longer; the upper part of the 

 head of a less pure white, and the brown streaks on the front 

 spreading more over the crown; the throat and upper part of 

 the breast are also dashed with large blotches of a pale brown, 

 and the bar passing through the eye, not of so dark a brown. 

 The toes of both are exceedingly strong and warty, and the 

 hind claw a full inch and a quarter in diameter. The feathers 

 on the neck and hind-head are long and narrow, and generally 

 erected when the bird is irritated, resembling those of the Ea- 

 gle. The eye is destitute of the projecting bone common to 

 most of the Falcon tribe, the nostril large, and of a curving 

 triangular shape. On dissection, the two glands on the rump, 

 which supply the bird with oil for lubricating its feathers, to 

 protect them from the wet, were found to be remarkably large, 

 capable, when opened, of admitting the end of the finger, and 

 contained a large quantity of white greasy matter, and some 

 pure yellow oil; the gall was in small quantity; the numerous 

 convolutions and length of the intestines surprised me; when 

 carefully extended they measured within an inch or two of nine 

 feet, and were no thicker than those of a Robin! The crop, or 

 craw, was middle sized, and contained a nearly dissolved fish; 

 the stomach was a large oblong pouch, capable of considerable 

 distension, and was also filled with half digested fish; no ap- 

 pearance of a muscular gizzard. 



By the descriptions of European naturalists, it would appear 

 that this bird, or one near a-kin to it, is a native of the Eastern 

 continent in summer, as far north as Siberia; the Bald Buzzard 

 of Turton almost exactly agreeing with the present species in 

 size, colour, and manners, with the exception of its breeding or 

 making its nest among the reeds, instead of on trees. Mr. Be- 

 wick, who has figured and described the female of this bird, 

 under the appellation of the "Osprey," says, " that it builds 



