The Biggest Bird's-Nest 



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turf in large quantities, mullein-stalks, and 

 lined with dry sea-grass ; the whole forming a 

 mass very observable at half a mile's distance, 

 and large enough to fill a cart, and be no incon- 

 siderable load for a horse." 



Still more bulky nests are still to be seen on 

 certain protected islands off the eastern end of 

 Long Island, if recent reports have not been 

 exaggerated. 



These nests of the American ospreys, and of 

 the foreign sea-eagles, are, however, subject to 

 a serious discount in our present view, since 

 they are occupied continuously, and are the 

 accumulations of many years; and while decay 

 and the winter winds cause the loss annually of 

 a certain proportion, so much new material is 

 added in the way of repairs each year as to 

 steadily increase the total mass. Our white- 

 headed eagle is a closely related form, and its 

 nests sometimes become truly gigantic through 

 continual occupancy for many years. Such 

 ancestral eyries are known in many parts of the 

 country. One on the lake shore near Cleveland, 

 Ohio, had been the home of successive pairs of 

 *$ 229 * 



