72 



THE NIDIOLOGIST. 



NOTES ON THE AMERICAN OSPREY. 



BV CHARLES E. DOE. 



The two counties of Bristol adjoining 

 each other, one in Massachusetts and the 

 other in Rhode Island, bounded by the 

 beautiful Narragansett and Mount Hope 

 Bays, and intersected by numerous rivers 

 and small streams, are favorite nesting 

 grounds for the American Osprey. 



In the spring the rivers 

 are fairly alive with her- 

 ring and shad, which 

 seek the clear water to 

 spawn, and the wily 

 Ospreys, depending on 

 fish for their living, 

 probably found out this 

 fact years before the 

 country was settled. 



From personal obser- 

 vation extending over a 

 period of fifteen years, 

 I should judge that in 

 this section, covering 

 about eight square miles, 

 there are no less than 

 two hundred nests, be- 

 sides many single nests 

 scattered about in the 

 interior, and they do not 

 seem to increase or di- 

 minish from year to 

 year. 



The favorite nesting 

 site is in the top of a 

 large tree, difficult of 

 ascent, and the birds 

 do not seem to be particular as to 

 what variety is selected, but it is usually 

 one that has commenced to decay. The 

 highest nest I have seen is in a lofty pine, 

 one hundred feet up, and the lowest in a 

 willow, about ten feet from the ground. 



One that I visited the past spring was 

 built among the wires and on the cross- 

 pieces of a telegraph pole, and although 

 a large number of trains passed by daily the 

 birds did not show any particular alarm. 







OSPREY AND NEST. 



Another pair persisted in building on 

 the chimney of an occupied house, until 

 forcibly driven away by the owner. 



One of the prettiest sites I have ever 

 seen was one visited May 9th this year. 

 It was placed on top of a low dead stump 

 standing in a pond, the bottom sticks of 

 the nest resting in the water, and the top 

 of the nest was so low that I sat in the 

 boat and secured the eggs. 



In this same pond 

 there were five occupied 

 nests besides the one 

 described, one being in a 

 dead oak, fifty feet above 

 the water, and the others 

 on dead stumps, from 

 ten to twenty feet up. 



The Osprey shows a 

 remarkable love for its 

 home, for they will re- 

 turn 5^ear after year to 

 the same situation and 

 remain about their nests 

 from the time of their 

 arrival, although its eggs 

 may be taken every 

 spring. Usually if the 

 eggs are taken a second 

 set will be laid, as I have 

 observed repeatedly. 



It is seldom that they 

 nest in deep woods, but 

 prefer an open situation, 

 not infrequently near a 

 farm house, where they 

 can survey the surround- 

 ing country and their 

 nests cannot be approached by day or night 

 without their giving forth their plaintive 

 whistle of warning. 



The nest illustrated is quite typical, al- 

 though larger than the average; it is an old 

 nest, having been occupied many consecu- 

 tive years. It is in a partly-dead ash tree, 

 thirty feet from the ground, and measures 

 from base to top over seven feet, and is five 

 feet across. 



Have taken a number of handsome sets 



