554 PANDION 



PANDION, Savigny, 1810. 



775. OSPREY. 

 PANDION HALIAETUS. 



Pandion haliaetus (Linn.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 129 (1766) ; (Naum.), i. p. 241, 

 Taf. 16 ; Hewitson, i. p. 19, pi. vi. ; Gould, B. of E. i. pi. 12 ; id. 

 B. of Gt. Brit. i. pi. 12 ; Newton, i. p. 30 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. 

 Mus. i. p. 449 ; Dresser, vi. p. 139, pis. 386, 387 ; Kidgway, p. 255 ; 

 Tacz. F. 0. Sib. 0. p. 52 ; Blanford, F. Brit. Ind. Birds, iii. p. 314 ; 

 Saunders, p. 359 ; Lilford, i. p. 11, pi. 8; P. carolinensis (Gmel.), 

 Syst. Nat. i. p. 263 (1788) ; P. leucocephalus, Gould, P.Z.S. 1837, 

 p. 138. 



Balbusard, French ; Aguia pesqueira, Portug. ; Aguila 

 pescador, Span. ; Falco pescatore, Ital. ; Fischadler, German ; 

 Visch-arend, Dutch ; Fiskeorn, Dan. and Norweg. ; Fiskljuse, 

 Swed. ; Kuollifalli, Tschiftschx, Lapp. ; Kalasdaski, Finn. ; 

 Skopd, Russ. ; JBou-haut, Moor. ; El Mansur, Ketaf, Arab. ; 

 Machariya, Machamanga, Hindu. ; Misago, Jap. 



$ ad. (Sweden). Head white, the crown striped with blackish brown, 

 which forms almost a patch before and above the eye ; nape feathers 

 elongated, lanceolate, tipped with blackish brown and washed with yel- 

 lowish ; ear-coverts and a stripe to hind-neck blackish brown ; upper 

 parts dark brown, the back faintly glossed ; quills blackish brown, marked 

 with white on the basal part of the inner webs ; tail dark brown, the outer 

 feathers dull white on the inner webs and dark banded ; under parts 

 white, the breast faintly marked with pale and dull ochreous brown ; outer 

 toe reversible ; under surface of toe rough, covered with small pointed 

 scales ; feathers wanting the accessory plumule ; bill blackish horn ; cere 

 blue-grey; legs pale plumbeous ; iris bright yellow. Culmen 1*9, wing 19'3, 

 tail 8'7, tarsus 2'2 inch. Female similar bat larger, and generally has the 

 breast more marked with brown. The young bird has the head and neck 

 more varied with blackish brown, the feathers on the upper parts and 

 wings margined or tipped with white, the tail more conspicuously barred, 

 and tipped with white, and the under parts washed with rufous isabelline. 



Hob. Europe, north to Lapland, not breeding in Ireland ; 

 Asia, east to Japan ; Africa, south to Natal ; Australia ; New 

 Zealand ; America from the high north, south to Brazil. 



Frequents the vicinity of inland lakes and rivers, or the sea- 

 coast, where it can obtain fish which swim near the surface of 

 the water, for it feeds exclusively on fish, which it obtains by 

 plunging down from a considerable altitude. Sometimes it 

 strikes too large a fish, and I have seen one which on so doing 



