THE FISH-HAWK. 55 



usually placed in the fork of a large dead tree, and is 

 occupied by the same pair of birds for successive years. I 

 am informed, that a pair of these birds have, for a number 

 of years past, made their eyrie on a shelf of an inaccessible 

 cliff on the side of what is called " Diamond Mountain," a 

 few miles south of the Umbagog lakes. Mr. J. A. Allen 

 (Catalogue of Birds of Springfield, Mass., in "Proceedings 

 of Essex Institute," vol. IV., No. 2) says that this species 

 " sometimes breeds on Mount Tom, about twenty miles 

 north of Springfield, Mass." These are probably, how- 

 ever, exceptional cases. The nest is constructed of large 

 sticks, twigs, branches of seaweeds, turf, and moss : some 

 of these sticks are nearly or. quite an inch in thickness. It 

 is a bulky affair ; its diameter often being five feet, and its 

 thickness from two to three feet. It is not much hollowed, 

 and is nearly level across the top. Of numbers of eggs of 

 this bird, that I have examined, I could see no material 

 difference as to shape or color; the form being nearly 

 spherical, and the color a dirty yellowish- white. Length 

 of specimens varies from 2.93 to 3.07 inches; breadth, 

 from 2.31 to 2,47 inches. 



PANDION, SAVIGNY. 



Pandion, SAVIGNY, Hist. Nat. d'Egypt, I. 95 (1809). 



Wings very long; general form heavy, and not adapted to vigorous or swift 

 flight like the preceding eagles ; bill short, curved from the base, compressed ; tarsi 

 thick and strong, and covered with small circular scales ; claws large, curved, very 

 sharp ; toes beneath rough ; tail moderate or rather short. 



This genus contains three or four species only, nearly allied to each other, and 

 inhabiting all temperate regions of the world. 



PANDION CAROLINENSIS. Bonaparte. 

 The Fish-hawk. Osprey. 



Falco Carolinensis, Gm. Syst. Nat., I. 263 (1788). 

 Aquila piscatrix, Vieillot. Ois. d'Am. Sept., I. 29 (1807). 

 Pandion Americanos, Vieillot. Gal. Ois., I. 33 (1825). 

 Falco halicetus, Linnaeus. Wilson, Am. Orn., V. 14. 

 Falco halicetus, Linna3us. Aud. Orn. Biog., I. 415. 



