BIRDS THAT PREY AND SOME THAT DO NOT 483 



fish-hawk formed a prominent feature of the land- 

 scape, and from sunrise to sunset the American 

 osprey sailed around overhead in graceful curves, 

 protesting with shrill cries against the invasion of 

 its territory by strangers. 



Baird says that the American osprey or fish- 

 hawk nests almost invariably in the tops of tall 

 trees. He gives as exceptions to this rule a nest 

 upon a small pine tree in Maine, and one upon a 

 cliff upon the Hudson River. Audubon, I believe, 

 found two 



FISH-HAWKS' NESTS UPON THE GROUND. 



With these two facts in mind, I was somewhat 

 surprised to find ospreys' nests scattered around 

 promiscuously upon the beach, the sand dunes, 

 piles of driftwood, tops of boulders and small 

 trees. The nests are all of them rather well built, 

 the foundation consisting of large sticks, and in 

 some instances pieces of plank weighing fully as 

 much or more than the bird. Over this founda- 

 tion is a layer, composed of seaweeds, sponges, and 

 other odd material cast up by the waves, the nest 

 itself being a shallow, dish-like hollow, of fine soft 

 seaweeds and grasses. Those I found upon the 

 ground stood about two feet high, but some of the 

 nests in the trees would measure, from foundation 

 stick to summit, fully five feet. Such ones are 

 eagerly seized upon by the purple grakle or crow 

 blackbirds, as offering them exceptional opportuni- 

 ties for housekeeping, and it frequently happens 



