Osprey BIKDS OF PREY. 



five or six pounds), it is taken to a convenient bluff or tree 

 and torn to bits. Sometimes the Fish Hawk dives quite 

 deep, and, when he emerges, shakes a shower of spray from 

 his wings and rises slowly. It is at this juncture that the 

 Bald Eagle usually manages to rob him of the fish by either 

 seizing it or startling the Hawk so that he looses his hold. 

 The Osprey when fishing makes one of the most breezy and 

 spirited pictures connected with the feeding-habits of any 

 of our birds, for often there is a splashing and a struggle 

 under water when the fish grasped is either too large or the 

 great talons become entangled. Occasionally the Osprey is 

 carried under and drowned, and large fish have been washed 

 ashore with these birds fastened to them by their claws, 

 though it usually feeds upon fish of little value. 



I found an Osprey's nest in a crooked oak on Wakeman's 

 Island in late April, 1893. As I could not get close to the 

 nest (the island is between a network of small creeks and 

 the flood-tides covered the marshes), I at first thought it a 

 monstrous Crow's nest, but on returning the second week in 

 May I saw a pair of Ospreys coming and going to and from 

 the nest, and then obtained a nearer view. I hoped the 

 birds might return another season, as the nest looked as if 

 it might have been used for two or three years and was as 

 lop-sided as a poorly made haystack. The great August 

 storm of the same year broke the tree and the nest fell, 

 making quite a heap on the ground. Among the debris 

 were sticks of various sizes, dried reeds, two bits of a bam- 

 boo fishing-rod, seaweeds, some old blue mosquito netting, 

 and some rags of fish net, also about half a bushel of salt hay 

 in various stages of decomposition, and malodorous dirt 

 galore. 



The Fish Hawk is said to breed in colonies along the New 

 Jersey coast. Here I have only seen it in pairs, and though 

 a common bird it always attracts attention whenever it 

 appears. 



224 



