THE OSPREY, OR FISHING EAGLE. 



53 



inland children of four or five years of age have been sometimes taken 

 away by Eagles ; and Ray relates, that in one of the Orkneys, a child 

 of a year old was seized in the talons of an Eagle, and carried above 

 four miles to its nest. The mother, knowing the place, pursued the 

 bird, found her child in the nest, and took it away unhurt. 



The form of the Golden Eagle is extremely muscular ; but their 

 chief strength lies in their beak, their talons, and their wings. There 

 is scarcely any quadruped a match for them ; as they are capable of 

 giving the most terrible annoyance, without much danger to themselves 

 One flap of their wing has been known to strike a man dead. 



These birds are remarkable for longevity, and for their power of 

 sustaining abstinence from food for a great length of time. One that 

 died at Vienna, had been in confinement above a hundred years ; and 

 one that was in the possession of a gentleman of Conway, in Caernarvon- 

 shire was, from the neglect of his servants, kept for three weeks without 

 any sustenance. 



THE .OSPREY, OR FISHING EAGLE. 



The length, from the point of the beak to the end of the tail, is 

 about two feet, and 

 the expanded wings 

 measure somewhat 

 more than five feet. 

 The wings when 

 closed, reach beyond 

 the end of the tail. 

 The head is small; 

 and is black or brown, 

 variegated with white 

 nt the top. The upper 

 oarts of the body, and 

 the whole of the tail, 

 are brown, and the 

 belly is white. It is 

 a singular circum- 

 stance in this bird, 

 that the outer toe turns 

 easily backward, so as 

 oa occasion to have 

 the toes two forward 

 and two backward, 

 and it has a much 

 larger claw than the 



inner one. This and the peculiar roughness of the whole foot under- 

 neath, are well adapted for the securing of its prey. 



The Osprey frequents large rivers, lakes, and the sea-shore both of 

 Europe and America. In the latter country, particularly, it often 

 affords amusement to strangers. During the spring and summer, 



