IN A WILD ANIMAL REPUBLIC 257 



WE HAVE ALL READ OF OSPREYS, 



which, having struck fish too large for them to 

 manage, unable to disengage their hooked talons, 

 have perished, their bodies having been afterward 

 found, still attached to the live fish. 



I am now prepared to believe these sto- 

 ries. One day we were driving along the 

 shores of Yellowstone Lake, and saw an 

 osprey fall like a stone from the sky, into 

 the water and disappear beneath the waves. 

 Thinking it had been drowned, we were about to 

 resume our journey, when the fluttering tips of the 

 hawk's wings appeared. The bird slowly arose 

 with an immense fish in its talons, but after three 



WILD GEESE CN THE ROADSIDE 



