60 BRITISH BIRDS. 



that the same situation is resorted to for many years in succession, the 

 branches which support it are not unfrequently distorted in growth and 

 flattened. In other cases the Osprey has several favourite eyries in one 

 chosen locality, and appears to utilize them in turn, like the White-tailed 

 Eagle or the Peregrine. As a rule the largest tree in the forest, the 

 patriarch of the timber, is selected to hold the nest, which is built at 

 varying heights from the ground, sometimes on the topmost branches, 

 flattened by its weight, more rarely at a distance of ten or fifteen feet 

 from the ground, on one of the broad spreading limbs. But when the 

 Osprey's nest is on ruins it is often at a far greater elevation ; and when 

 built on rocky islets it is not unfrequently but a few feet from the ground, 

 built amongst the grey lichens and tufts of polypody fern. Although the 

 Osprey is in most places such a very rare bird, a journey of thirty-six hours 

 from London will bring us to a locality where it is found in very great 

 numbers. On the southern shores of the Baltic, north of Stettien, surround- 

 ing the inland lakes which form the delta of the Oder, are vast forests which 

 form a perfect paradise for the Osprey. Lonely forests within easy access 

 of freshwater lakes are the favourite breeding-places of this bird. He 

 generally selects the loftiest tree in the forest, his main object being ap- 

 parently to be able to rise at once from the nest without being incommoded 

 by the branches of trees ; thus it often happens that the nest is visible at 

 the distance of a mile. The structure is enormously large, from three to 

 four feet in diameter, and occasionally as high, and is generally placed 

 upon the summit of a pine tree, one having a dead top being preferred. 

 At the outside it extends so far over the branches that it is often very 

 difficult to reach. The foundation is made of branches intermixed with 

 decaying vegetable matter and sods ; the upper surface is flat, and consists 

 of finer twigs covered over with green and dry grass, the eggs being laid 

 in a slight hollow in the middle, not more than a foot across, and scarcely 

 two inches deep. Three eggs are the usual number, occasionally two, and 

 still more rarely four. The most favourite place of all is 011 an island 

 covered over with timber in the middle of a lake on which there are no 

 boats. In a locality of this kind in Pomerania a number of Osprey s 

 formed a colony, in one case two nests being on the same tree ; and the 

 Osprey has been known to build upon the top of a tree in which w r as 

 the nest of a Black Stork. The Osprey is a shy bird at the nest, and 

 usually leaves it at once on the approach of a stranger. The birds are in 

 the habit of roosting on the nest before any eggs are laid. 



By the latter end of April or the first week in May the Osprey's eggs 

 are deposited. They vary considerably in colour. Typical specimens are 

 white or yellowish white in ground-colour, irregularly and very boldly 

 blotched and spotted with rich reddish brown, which becomes more dense and 

 thickly dispersed over the larger end, sometimes so much as to hide all 



