The Osprey. 65 



period of the year from taking any salmon, salmon-peal, or 

 salmon-kind, by hawkes. racks, gins, etc.' Of all birds none has a 

 wider range than the Osprey, for it is found in nearly all parts of 

 Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. From China, Japan, and 

 India in the east ; by Palestine, and the countries bordering on 

 the Mediterranean, to the West Indies and America, to the west ; 

 from Scandinavia, Kussia, and Siberia, in the north ; to Egypt, 

 North Africa, and even the Cape of Good Hope, in the south, 

 this cosmopolitan seems equally at home, but selects a suitable 

 season for its visit to each, and never winters in Great Britain, as 

 Professor Newton points out,* America, however, seems to be 

 its stronghold, and there it congregates for breeding in vast 

 numbers, just as rooks do in this country ; and of this the 

 American ornithologist, Wilson, gives many interesting particu- 

 lars. Its general colour is brown above and white below, with a 

 white crown to its head; legs, pale blue. In allusion to the 

 rapidity with which it darts upon fish, it is called by the Italians 

 Aquila piombino, or 'Leaden Eagle;' and in Hampshire and 

 Sussex it is known as the c mullet hawk/ from its partiality for 

 that fish. In Spain it is the Ayuila pescadora, or ' Fishing Eagle;' 

 in Portugal Aguia pesqueira; in Italy Aquila pescatrice; and 

 in Germany, Flusadler, ' River Eagle ;' in Sweden Fisk Ljuse ; 

 and in France Aigle Balbusard. Our term, 'osprey/ is as 

 if ' osfray,' from os and frangere, ' bone-breaker,' in allusion to 

 the bird's strength ; and for this derivation I have the high 

 authority of Skeat. Notwithstanding the scarcity of large sheets 

 of water in this county, this bird has been often killed in different 

 parts of it, and not unfrequently within the last few years. Mr. 

 Rowland shot a very fine specimen at Ramsbury, near the river 

 Kennet, about A.D. 1855, at a piece of water in the occupation of 

 Sir R. Burdett ; and at the adjoining fishery, belonging to Mr. 

 Popham, that gentleman informs me he has also met with and 

 killed it. The Rev. G. Marsh had one in his collection which the 

 keeper obtained in Draycot Park in 1830, and was, when seen, 

 preying on a rabbit (contrary to its usual habits), and was very 

 Fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds/ vol. i., p. 80. 



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