BIRDS OF KANSAS. 291 



perched beside them, and the Purple Grackle occasionally build 

 their nests in the interstices of the outer sticks that lay the foun- 

 dation of the Osprey's nest, and there hatch and rear their 

 young in safety. 



The birds are quite social in habits, often assembling in 

 small flocks, and at such times I have seen them attack and drive 

 away from their fishing grounds the Bald Eagle, that occa- 

 sionally robs them of their prey. Wilson gives the following 

 interesting description of their flights and fishing habits: 



"The flight of the Fish Hawk (American Osprey), his ma- 

 noeuvers 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 around 

 in easy, curving lines, turning sometimes in the air as on a pivot, 

 apparently without the least exertion, rarely moving his wings, 

 his legs extended in a straight line behind, and his remarkable 

 length and curvature, or bend of wing, distinguishing him from 

 all other Hawks. The height at which he thus elegantly glides 

 is various, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty and two 

 hundred feet, sometimes much higher, all the while calmly 

 reconnoitering the face of the deep below. Suddenly he is 

 seen to check his course, as if struck by a particular object, 

 which he seems to survey for a few moments with such steadi- 

 ness that he appears fixed in the air, flapping his wings. This 

 object, however, he abandons, or rather the fish he had in his 

 eye has disappeared, and he is again seen sailing around as 

 before. Now his attention is again arrested, and he descends 

 with great rapidity, but ere he reaches the surface shoots off on 

 another course, as if ashamed that a second victim has escaped 

 him. He now sails at a short height above the surface, and by 

 a zigzag descent, and, without seeming to dip his feet in the 

 water, seizes a fish, which, after carrying a short distance, he 

 probably drops, or yields up to the Bald Eagle, and again 

 ascends by easy spiral circles to the higher regions of air, where 

 he glides about in all the ease and majesty of his species. At 

 once, from this sublime aerial height, he descends like a perpen- 

 dicular torrent, plunging into the sea with a loud, rushing sound, 



