OSPREY. 57 



lakes, the wild mountain-waters teeming with trout, or the lochs and the 

 seacoast where an abundant supply of food is ever obtainable. 



Like most raptorial birds, the Osprey, when its meal is finished, takes 

 its perch, usually on some post in the water or tree-stump on the bank, 

 where it sits, seemingly unconscious of danger, to digest its meal, and 

 where it is easily approached, its curious appearance and large size proving 

 but allurements to its doom, which is duly recorded in the county paper. 

 These birds, if they have the rare fortune to be left unmolested, will 

 sometimes prolong their stay until the summer; but no instance is on 

 record where the Osprey has been known to breed in England or 

 "Wales. 



The habits of the Osprey, in certain respects, much resemble those of 

 the Kestrel. Dixon describes a bird of this species which he saw searching 

 for prey on the head waters of Loch Carron in Inverness-shire. " It was 

 about thirty feet above the surface of the water, hovering with quivering 

 wings, and ever and anon giving a few rapid beats, as if to steady itself. 

 It slowly searched the shallow waters near the shore, hovering and sailing 

 alternately, just like our well-known Windhover in the meadows. Finally 

 it poised itself for a moment, and dropped down like a stone into the 

 water, the noise of its plunge being distinctly audible more than a quarter 

 of a mile away. Rising in a few seconds, it again for a short time 

 hovered above the surface, and then finally retired, in slow Buzzard-like 

 flight, towards a distant clump of timber, but whether successful in its 

 exertions we are unable to say." " I have watched," says Booth, in his 

 interesting ' Rough Xotes/ when speaking on the habits of the Osprey 

 on our English waters, " one or two, while searching for flounders in the 

 muddy creeks on Breydon Water, following the course of the channels, 

 and fishing in exactly the same manner that Gulls may be noticed when 

 picking up the floating refuse in a tideway, the only difference being that 

 a Gull seizes the food with his beak, while an Osprey grasps it in his claws. 

 The thickness of the water renders it impossible for any fish to be detected 

 at a depth below the surface ; flounders, however, may frequently be seen 

 working their way close to the edge of the stream ; and from the manner 

 in which the birds proceeded, I have not the slightest doubt they were in 

 pursuit of this description of fish. After hovering round for a second or 

 two, I have noticed one dip down close to the mudbank, and, although 

 appearing scarcely to have touched the water, sail off to some quiet spot, 

 where it could leisurely devour its prey, a favourite resting-place in that 

 locality being the sweeps of an old mill standing within a short distance 

 of the flats, from which a good view of approaching danger might be 

 obtained. Mullet are very plentiful in the upper parts of Breydon Water; 

 and to these the Osprey is stated to be particularly partial when observed 

 in the south of England." 



