142 BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



SUBFAMILY PANDIONIN.33. OSPREYS. 



GENUS PANDION SAVIGNY. 

 Pandion haliaetus carolinensis (GMEL.). 



American Osprey ; Fish Hawk . 



DESCRIPTION {Plate 80). 



Wings long and pointed ; second and third quills longest. Three first primaries 

 emarginate on inner webs ; bill stout with a very long hook and sharp end ; feathers 

 oily to resist water, those of head lengthened and pointed ; thighs and little of the 

 front parts of tarsi are covered with short feathers which lie close ; legs, tarsi, 

 and feet very strong and robust ; claws all same length, very large and sharp. The 

 tarsus all round covered with rough scales ; toes padded below and covered with 

 numerous hard-pointed projections to aid in holding their slippery prey. 



Adult. Upper parts dark brown or grayish-brown; most of head, neck and 

 under parts white (chest in female, and sometimes in male, is spotted with brown, ) 

 the tail, usually paler than the back, is tipped with white, and has six or seven 

 dusky bars. The young, very similar to adults, have upper parts spotted with pale 

 reddish-brown or white. Iris in some specimens reddish, but mostly yellow ; bill 

 and claws blue-black ; tarsi and toes grayish-blue. Length (female) about 25 

 inches ; extent about 52. 



Habitat North America, from Hudson's bay and Alaska south to the West Indies 

 and northern South America. 



The Fish Hawk, although most numerous about the sea coast, is quite 

 frequently met with along our large rivers. This bird arrives in Penn- 

 sylvania generally about the last week in March, and remains some- 

 times as late as the first of November. Although the Fish Hawk com- 

 monly rears its young along the sea coast, it is frequently found breed- 

 ing near the borders of large rivers or in the vicinity of large inland 

 lakes. The nest, a particularly bulky structure (from four to eight feet in 

 diameter), composed chiefly of sticks, and lined with sea-weeds, grasses, 

 etc., is built usually on a large tree, near the water. In Florida I have 

 found eggs and young of this bird early in March. The Fish Hawk 

 breeds in Pennsylvania. I am informed that about eight years ago 

 Messrs. William Ingram and Joseph Price, of West Chester, Pa., dis- 

 covered a nest and young of the Fish Hawk along the Brandywine 

 creek, in the vicinity of Chadd's Ford, Delaware county. The eggs, two 

 or three in number, measure about 2 J inches in length by 1} inches in 

 width ; they are yellowish-white, thickly covered with large blotches of 

 different shades of brown. Although it is asserted by certain reputable 

 writers that during the breeding season these birds subsist in part on 

 reptiles and batrachians, I believe that such food is only taken when 

 they are unable to secure fish, which they are so expert in catching. In 

 the stomachs of eighteen Fish Hawks, killed in Pennsylvania, New Jer- 

 sey, Maryland and Florida, I found only the remains of fishes. 



The following list shows that the osprey breeds more or less regu 

 larly in different localities in Pennsylvania in the vicinity of large 



