FORMER NESTING OF THE OSPREY. 257 
My two next witnesses allege, as I understand them, that a 
pair of Ospreys bred in the Ullswater district under their own 
Observation. The Rev. Wm. Richardson, a good naturalist and 
accurate withal, in 1793 drew up a sketch of the Zoology of the 
Ullswater District, for insertion in Hutchinson’s ‘ History of 
Cumberland.’ In this he quotes Berkenhout’s description of the 
Falco halieétus, Osprey, or Fishing Eagle. He adds, “ The 
Osprey, or Fishing Eagle, is frequently seen fishing ; he is very 
bold, and in pursuit of his prey will dart down within forty yards 
ofa man.” He then notices the Whinfield Park birds mentioned 
by Willughby, and shows that he did not understand that author, 
who speaks of it as “the Ossifragus, or Sea Eagle.” But if he 
had been a little more careful, he would have seen that Willughby 
anglicised the name as the “ Osprey,” though no doubt wrong in 
_ his synonyms; Dr. Heysham erred in like manner. Heysham, 
then the most accomplished naturalist in the north of England, 
included in his Catalogue of Cumberland animals the Sea Eagle, 
Falco ossifragus. This he distinguished from both the Golden 
and White-tailed Eagles; I have no doubt that the Osprey was 
the bird he meant to indicate. 
Richardson has already told us that the Osprey regularly 
fishes Ullswater. Dr. Heysham says, “I am not certain whether 
the Sea Eagle breeds at present in Cumberland or not, but a few 
years ago there used to be an annual nest in the rocks which 
surround the lake of Ullswater, and the great Trout of that lake 
has been taken out of its nest, upwards of ten pounds weight; it 
however frequently visits this country.” This statement supports 
Richardson. But could this “ Sea Eagle” be anything else but 
the Osprey? It was not the Golden Eagle, for that species is 
not piscivorous ; besides, Dr. Heysham expressly distinguishes it 
from the Golden Eagle. But was the “Sea Eagle” identical 
with the White-tailed ? This is negatived by the details that he 
furnishes of the latter species. Ido not deny that Golden and 
White-tailed Eagles then existed in our lake area ; I am certain 
a SE ee ee ee ee ee ee 
nested in Scotch firs, as they still doin Sweden. Another fact inconsistent 
with Willughby’s birds being White-tailed Eagles is that the Countess 
“preserved” them. Most assuredly no one in the Lake District would 
preserve Hagles at a time when the parish authorities paid head-money for 
them as destructive vermin. 
ZOOLOGIST.— JULY, 1889. x 
