1NSEC1S ON BIRDS OSPREY. 135 



coming out of the north, are rendered half frantic by the 

 tickling sensation ; while our own breed little regards them. 



The curious Reaumur discovered the large eggs, or rather 

 pupcE, of these flies, as big as the flies themselves, which he 

 hatched in his own bosom. Any person that will take the 

 trouble to examine the old nests of either species of swallows, 

 may find in them the black shining cases, or skins, of the 

 pupce of these insects ; but, for other particulars, too long for 

 this place, we refer the reader to L'Histoire d'lnsectes of that 

 admirable entomologist, torn. iv. pi. 11. 



LETTER LIV. 

 TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ. 



SELBORNE, November 9, 1773. 



DEAR SIR, As you desire me to send you such observa- 

 tions as may occur, I take the liberty of making the following 

 remarks, that you may, according as you think me right or 

 wrong, admit or reject what I here advance, in your intended 

 new edition of the British Zoology. 



The osprey* was shot about a year ago at Frinsham Pond, 

 a great lake, at about six miles from hence, while it was sitting 

 on the handle of a plough and devouring a fish ; it used to 

 precipitate itself into the water, and so take its prey by 

 surprise. )* 



* British Zoology, vol. i. p. 128. 



f Wilson beautifully describes the manoeuvres of the osprey, pandion 

 haliceetus of Savigney, while in search of his prey : " In leaving the 

 nest, he usually flies direct till he comes to the sea, then sails around in 

 easy curving lines, turning sometimes in the air on a pivot, apparently 

 without the least exertion, rarely moving the wings, his legs extended 

 in a straight line behind, and his remarkable length and curvature, or 

 bend of wing, distinguishes him from all other hawks. The height at 

 which he thus elegantly glides is various, from one hundred to one 

 hundred and fifty, and two hundred feet, sometimes much higher, all the 

 while calmly reconnoitring the face of the deep below. Suddenly he is 

 seen to check his course, as if struck by a particular object, which he 

 seems to survey for a few moments with such steadiness, that he appears 

 fixed in air, flapping his wings. This object, however, he abandons, 

 or rather the fish he had in his eye has disappeared, and he is again seen 

 sailing around as before. Now his attention is again arrested, and he 

 descends with great rapidity ; but ere he reaches the surface, shoots off 

 on another course, as if ashamed that a second victim had escaped him. 

 lie now sails at a short height above the surface, and by a zigzag descent, 

 and without seeming to dip his feet in the water, seizes a fish, which, 



