252 



ACCIPITP.KS. BIRDS. 



time this species was very abundant about the Falls 

 of Niagara, watching, in company with the ravens and 

 vultures, for the carcases of animals brought down 

 by the force of the great cataract. In obtaining his 

 supply of fresh fish, the White-headed eagle exhibits 

 an amount of sagacity which preserves him from 

 the unpleasant consequences sometimes attending the 

 piscatorial proceedings of his European congener in 

 fact, he does his fishing by proxy. Perching on the 

 bough of a tree, or on some other elevated position 

 on the coast, he watches the manoeuvres of one of his 

 near relations, the smaller and less powerful osprey or 

 fish-hawk (Pandion Haliaetus). As soon as he sees 

 the osprey dash down into the waters, and emerge 

 again with his prey struggling hi his talons, the Bald 

 eagle quits his post of observation and darts off in 

 pursuit of the successful fisher. The latter, encumbered 

 with his prey, is quite unable to contend in flight 

 with his pursuer, who endeavours to rise above him ; 

 and the manoeuvres of the birds in this struggle for the 

 upper hand, are described as exceedingly interesting. 

 The conclusion of the affair is, however, nearly always 

 the same the eagle, being quite unencumbered, gen- 

 erally overcomes the osprey ; the latter lets his prey 

 drop with a scream of disgust ; and the piratical pursuer 

 then descends with astonishing rapidity, and usually 

 manages to secure the booty before it reaches the 

 water. One can sympathize with Wilson in his regret 

 that so unprincipled a bird should have been selected 

 as the emblem of the United States ; for, notwithstand- 

 ing the ingenuity displayed in the proceedings just 

 described, it must be confessed that the industrious 

 osprey is the more respectable animal of the two. 

 Occasionally, however, a kind of revolution takes place ; 

 the ospreys, on a stretch of coast infested by a Bald 

 eagle, seem to grow tired of the exactions of their 

 plunderer, and, making common cause, drive him 

 from then- precincts. Under these circumstances he 

 often directs his course inland, where he commits great 

 depredations amongst the weaker domestic animals 

 little pigs and lambs are said to be particular objects 

 of his attention. Wilson also mentions an instance in 

 which one of these birds, pressed by hunger, attempted 

 to carry off a young child, and actually dragged it 

 along for several feet, when its frodk fortunately giving 

 way, the robber was disappointed of his expected meal. 



The White-headed eagle builds sometimes on the 

 rocks and sometimes amongst the branches of tall trees. 

 The nest is composed of the same substances as that of 

 the White-tailed eagle, sticks, tufts of grass, &c. ; it 

 serves the birds for several years, and is added to at 

 every breeding season, so that hi course of time it 

 consists of a vast mass of materials. The eggs are two 

 in number, of a bluish-white colour, without any spots, 

 and, according to Wilson, one of the eggs is laid a 

 considerable time before the other. The parents are 

 much attached to their young, which they tend with 

 great assiduity, and the female has been known to 

 adliere so pertinaciously to her young family, when the 

 tree containing her nest had been set on fire, that at 

 last she made her escape with considerable difficulty. 



THE WHITE-BELLIED SEA EAGLE (Haliaetus leuco- 

 gaster) is a rather smaller species than the preceding, 



which is found, although not very abundantly, about 

 the coasts and lakes of the East Indies and its islands, 

 and also in Australia. In some parts of India, accord- 

 to Mr. Blyth, it is known as the Snake-killer, a name 

 which is also applied to the Circa etus gallicus ; the 

 natives of Sumatra call it the Bald eayle, and on the 

 coasts it appears to subsist principally upon fish, which 

 it often carries off from the nets or boats of the 

 fishermen. Mr. Gould says that in Australia these 

 birds do not capture living fish by plunging into the 

 water, but content themselves with the dead fish and 

 cetacea which are thrown up on the beach ; they also 

 probably feed upon mollusca and other marine animals, 

 and Mr. Blyth found some joints of Crustacea in an 

 Indian specimen examined by him. They nidificate, 

 according to Mr. Gould, sometimes hi trees and some- 

 times on the rocks. The sexes are similar in their 

 plumage, having the head, neck, and the whole lower 

 surface of the body white, the back and wings grey, 

 the primaries and base of the tail feathers blackish, and 

 tips of the latter white. 



THE OSPEEY (Pandion Haliaetus) also known as 

 the FISH-HAWK, is a small species of the tribe of 

 eagles, to the piscatorial accomplishments of which we 

 have already alluded. Its peculiar adaptation for the 

 capture of fish is evidenced by the structure of the 

 lower surface of the toes, the skin of this part being 

 formed into rough cushions, and each of the granula- 

 tions of the skin terminates in a point or spine, which 

 cannot but be of the greatest service to the bird in 

 seizing upon the slippery struggling fishes which con- 

 stitute its principal nourishment. It is a robust bird, 

 with long and powerful wings, and a strong beak ; the 

 tarsi are short and stout, and their granular scales 

 present an arrangement by which this bird and the 

 other members of its genus may be at once recognized. 

 The scales of the front of the tarsus are imbricated 

 downwards, that is to say, the margin of each scale 

 overlies the one below it ; but on the back of the tar- 

 sus this arrangement is reversed, and the lower scales 

 overlie those above them. The outer toe, also, is 

 capable of being turned either forward or backward, 

 an arrangement which must evidently assist the birds 

 materially in overcoming their slippery prey. 



The Common osprey measures about twenty-two 

 inches in length ; the general colour of its plumage on 

 the upper surface and wings is dark brown, and on 

 the lower surface white, with a few brownish feathers 

 on the breast ; the tips of the primaries are black, and 

 the tail feathers are banded with two shades of brown. 

 The beak is black, with the cere blue, and the feet are 

 also blue, with black claws, which, unlike those of the 

 rapacious birds in general, are not grooved beneath. 



The osprey which is, at all events partially, a migra- 

 tory bird, is found in almost all parts of the world, 

 generally on the sea- coast, but frequently also on the 

 banks of lakes and rivers far inland. It occurs abun- 

 I dantly on the shores of North America, and is almost 

 equally plentiful in Europe ; it is also an inhabitant of 

 Northern Asia, and extends its range southward as far 

 as India in the eastern, and Honduras in the western 

 hemisphere. It appears to reside in the temperate 

 arid colder climates during the summer, and to move 



