wholly available. The invaria- 

 ble result is that the hawks, for 

 at least three weeks after their 

 arrival from the South, hunt 

 almost exclusively in fresh 

 water — chiefly ponds, where 

 golden carp, German carp, and 

 perch are taken. The first 

 named of these three is most 

 often secured, probably because 

 of his orange - yellow color, 

 which renders him more con- 

 spicuous in the muddy waters 

 after the spring freshets. 



The fish-hawk's manner of 

 securing his prey is highly spec- 

 tacular. If hunting over a 

 pond he drifts along the lee 

 shore a hundred feet or so 

 above the surface of the water, 

 facing into the wind and keep- 

 ing his eyes fixed on the pond 

 below. When a fish is sighted, 

 the bird checks himself directly 

 above the quarry on wings that 

 beat horizontally, and should 

 the prospects be good — if the 

 fish is of proper size and at a 

 suitable distance from the sur- 

 face of the water — down goes 

 the bird at reckless speed, with 

 wings folded and talons wide 

 open. There is a great splash 

 as the hawk strikes the water 

 and seizes the fish by the back. 



Year after year I longed to 

 get an osprey at his fishing 

 game on a photographic plate ; 

 but who could tell where a 

 hawk might plunge, and how 

 could one be close enough with 

 a camera to catch the bird at it ? 

 The matter was given much 

 thought. It was at first planned 

 to capture live goldfish and 

 tether them out as bait, but the 

 probable difficulty of securing 

 them when wanted and of mak- 

 ing them ''stay put" was too 

 great. 



So I went to my friend, 

 Dwight Franklin, expert mod- 

 eler in the American Museum 

 of Natural History, and in- 

 duced him to make for me an 

 artificial goldfish, to measure 

 10 or 12 inches in length. This 



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