ON THE BEACH AT DAYTONA. 48 
That done, they shook themselves vigorously 
and started landward, the shining white vic- 
tim wriggling vainly in the clutch of the tal- 
ons. I took it for granted that they retired 
with their quarry to some secluded spot on 
the peninsula, till one day I happened to be 
standing upon a sand-hill as one passed 
overhead. Then I perceived that he kept 
on straight across the peninsula and the 
river. More than once, however, I saw one 
of them in no haste to go inland. On my 
second visit, a hawk came circling about my 
head, carrying a fish. I was surprised at 
the action, but gave it no second thought, 
nor once imagined that he was making me 
his protector, till suddenly a large bird 
dropped rather awkwardly upon the sand, 
not far before me. He stood for an instant 
on his long, ungainly legs, and then, showing 
a white head and a white tail, rose with a 
fish in his talons, and swept away landward 
out of sight. Here was the osprey’s para- 
site, the bald eagle, for which I had been 
on the watch. Meantime, the hawk too 
had disappeared. Whether it was his fish 
which the eagle had picked up (having 
missed it in the air) I cannot say. I did 
