132 NATURAL HISTORY. 



abundance, that she seldom left the nest, and never to 

 seek for food. This kindness was continued both be- 

 fore and after incubation. Some animals, who claim the 

 name and rationality of man, might blush at the recital 

 of this fact. On the appearance of the young, which 

 is usually about the last of June, the zeal and watch- 

 fulness of the parents are extreme. They stand guard, 

 and go off to fish, alternately; one parent being always 

 within a short distance of the nest. On the near approach 

 of any person, the hawk utters a plaintive whistling note, 

 which becomes shriller as she takes to wing, and sails 

 around, sometimes making a rapid descent, as if aiming 

 directly for you ; but checking her course, and sweeping 

 past, at a short distance overhead, her wings making 



a loud whizzing in the air 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 

 round, in easy curving lines, turning sometimes in the air 

 as on a pivot, apparently without the least exertion, rarely 

 moving the wings, the legs extended behind, and his 



