94 A NATURE WOOING. 



Numerous ospreys or fish, hawks, Pandion Jialicetus 

 L., were seen both on the going and returning trips. 

 One of them had a large fish in its talons, so held that 

 the head of the fish was toward the head of the bird, 

 so as to retard the latter as little as possible in its 

 flight. It flew before us for a mile or more, alighting 

 at intervals of a few hundred yards on some dead 





Fig. 30 Osprey or Fish Hawk. 



limb of cypress or oak; then, on our near approach, 

 up and away, always clinging tightly to its prey. 



Among the most striking objects along the river 

 are .the nests of these ospreys great circular masses 

 of mosses and twigs placed far out on the project- 

 ing limb of some dead snag, safe from the clutches of 

 any egg-collecting urchin, or other animal with 

 oological propensities. The sticks of the nest alone 

 form a large mass, serving as a foundation ; but when 

 the nest is finished are so completely covered with the 



