420 - FISH HAWK. 



ing over the lakes near the Mississippi, where they feed on the fish which 

 the Wood Ihis kills, the Hawks themselves being unable to discover 

 them whilst alive in the muddy water with which these lakes are filled. 

 There the Ibises wade among the water in immense flocks, and so trample 

 the bottom as to convert the lakes into filthy puddles, in which the fishes 

 are unable to respire with ease. They rise to the surface, and are in- 

 stantly killed by the Ibises. The whole surface is sometimes covered in 

 this manner with dead fish, so that not only are the Ibises plentifully 

 supplied, but Vultures, Eagles and Fish Hawks, come to participate in 

 the spoil. Except in such places, and on such occasions, I have not ob- 

 served the Fish Hawk to eat of any other prey than that which it had 

 procured by plunging headlong into the water after it. 



I have frequently heard it asserted that the Fish Hawk is sometimes 

 drawn under the water and drowned, when it has attempted to seize a 

 fish which is too strong for it, and that some of these birds have been 

 found sticking by their talons to the back of Sturgeons and other large 

 fishes. But, as nothing of this kind ever came under my observation, I 

 am unable to corroborate these reports. The roosting place of this bird 

 is generally on the top-branches of the tree on which its nest is placed, or 

 of one close to it. 



Fish Hawks are very plentiful on the coast of New Jersey, near 

 Great Egg Harbour, where I have seen upwards of fifty of their nests 

 in the course of a day's walk, and where I have shot several in the course 

 of a morning. When wounded, they defend themselves in the manner 

 usually exhibited by Hawks, erecting the feathers of the head, and try- 

 ing to strike with their powerful talons and bill, whilst they remain pros- 

 trate on their back. 



The largest fish which I have seen this bird take out of the water, 

 was a Weak-Fish, such as is represented in the plate, but sufficiently 

 large to weigh more than five pounds. The bird carried it into the air 

 with difficulty, and dropped it, on hearing the report of a shot fired at it. 



Falco Haliaetus, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 129 — Lath. Ind. Ornith. voL i. p. I7. 



Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 26. 

 Carolina Osprey, Lath. Synops. vol. i. p. 74. 

 Fish Hawk, Falco Haliaetus, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. v. p. 13. PI. 5. fig. 1. 



Adult Male. Plate LXX:^I. 



