484 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



that all the interstices between the sticks forming 

 the hawks' habitations are filled with the nests of 

 blackbirds. I counted six blackbirds' nests in the 

 portion of an osprey's nest within sight, from where 

 I was sitting on a sand dune. There were three 

 eggs in the hawk's nest, and most of the blackbirds' 

 nests contained young birds just out of the egg. 

 Some ospreys' eggs that I examined in a nest in a 

 tree were prettily marked with dark purplish or 

 wine-colored markings upon a cream-white ground. 

 After keeping a couple of ospreys' eggs in a cigar 

 box for three days, the young birds inside were 

 found to be alive by the naturalist for whom I col- 

 lected them. 



I noticed thai in four or five different nests upon 

 the ground 



THE EGGS WERE ALL A DIRTY-BROWN COLOR, 



harmonizing so perfectly with the dry seaweed lin- 

 ing as to require a quick eye to detect the egg in 

 the nest when the observer stood but a few feet 

 away. 



After making sketches, and making a good catch 

 of blackfish, our party bade farewell to the island, 

 and were rowed out to a passing steamer, which 

 slowed up and took us aboard. A few hours after- 

 ward we were back again in New York. 



Shortly after arriving home I received word 

 that at Bayview, near the Atlantic Highlands, a 

 large fish-hawk had been seen to swoop down into 

 the waters of the bay, embedding its talons in a 



